Met is 'racist' in use of stop and search

The Metropolitan Police was accused of racism again today over its use of controversial stop-and-search powers.

A new study shows black people are four times more likely to be stopped than white - and that their chances of being stopped are increasing dramatically.

Now the Metropolitan Police Authority is calling for a drastic overhaul of stop-and-search tactics and has listed 55 recommended changes.

These include asking the Commission for Racial Equality to consider prosecuting individual officers if their actions are found to be racist. The study, by an MPA panel chaired by Cecile Wright, claims stop and search in London "continues to be influenced by racial bias".

It says "racial bias and stereotyping" by individual officers is the main reason more black and Asian people are likely to be stopped.

It adds: "Institutional racism - as reflected in the policies, priorities and practices (or lack thereof) of the Metropolitan Police Service - continue to be dominant factors in both permitting and causing disproportionalityin stop-and-search

The Met announced it was setting up a panel to review stopand-search procedures urgently following publication of the report.

Deputy assistant commissioner Carol Howlett said: "We are deeply concerned about disproportionality in stop and search.

"We want to find out why this is happening. Is it or is it not justified?

"We accept it exists and leads to a perception of bias. If we find racial discrimination is a reason then we will be robust in tacklingit. We are already starting to review our policies."

The MPA study says the Met's own figures show that between 2000-1 and 2001-2, stop-and-search rates rose by 30 per cent for black people and by 41 per cent for Asian. For white people the increase was only eight per cent.

The MPA panel criticised lack of supervision of the procedures, partly due to the Met's chronic shortage of experienced sergeants.

This in turn "impacts on the ability of the Met to recruit black and ethnic minority people into the police service," Ms Wright points out.