For the full article, please read the opinion piece ‘Knife crime is a real problem, but stop and search isn't the solution’ in the Guardian.
The government has positioned themselves as tough on crime, but the extension of discriminatory police stop and search powers amounts to political grandstanding rather than a meaningful solution to serious youth violence.
Chief executive Katrina Ffrench and StopWatch members Samar Khan and Benson Egwuonwu, argue in the Guardian that the Home Secretary's decision to extend stop and search powers under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 via removing the safeguards under the best use of stop and search scheme, will lead to increased discrimination against ethnic minorities and further damage the relationship between affected communities and the police.
There is limited evidence that stop and search tactics have a deterrent effect on crime, and the arrest rate resulting from section 60 searches was as low as 2% between April 2017 and March 2018.