Hands calls on Home Secretary to increase in ‘Stop and Search’
Speaking in the House of Commons, local MP Greg Hands, has praised police and local residents for all their efforts in the wake of the tragic murder of Kodjo Yenga last week and called on Home Secretary John Read to increase levels of ‘stop and search’ policing in London.
He paid tribute to Kodjo Yenga who was tragically murdered on Hammersmith Grove in his constituency last week. In an exchange with Home Secretary John Reid, Mr Hands put on record his “praise for local police for acting and getting on the scene extremely quickly.”
He added “The Police and the British Transport police have been very effective in recent months in monitoring and examining the prevalence of knives in the area; there have been a number of metal detector searches at bus stations, and so on”
The MP called on the Home Secretary to urgently review regulations surrounding ‘stop and search’ on local streets saying, “The Home Secretary offers a solution of more data collection and more offences, but does he agree that it is time to look again at the regulations behind stop and search, particularly in London? The current practices of stopping and accounting for searches are simply not working.”
The Home Secretary appeared dismissive of Greg’s calls for more stop and search, saying,“On the particular issue that the hon. Gentleman raised, we have to be careful to recognise that, in taking some steps, we may with the best of intentions alienate the very communities that we seek to engage in partnership. I do not say that that is an easy question to resolve. The point that he has put to me has been put to me by people from all different backgrounds in the community. In the meantime, however, I think I will concentrate on the measures that I have brought forward today.”
The Home Secretary announced that “as from next month, data on serious violent offences involving the specific use of knives and sharp instruments will be separately collected” and that the Government had “doubled the maximum sentence for possession of a lethal weapon or knife in a public place without good reason” and would “implement the new offence of using someone to mind a weapon; if the weapon is a knife, the maximum sentence will be four years.”
Mr. Hands further commented,“The Home Secretary announces new data gathering exercises and new offences – what we really need to do is change the way that London is policed. It is time to copy the experience of New York City and introduce zero-tolerance policing. Get more police on the streets and abolish Labour’s politically correct approach to Stop and Search would be a good start.”
The MP will meet police and local councillors at a Crime Summit hosted by Hammersmith and Fulham Council this Saturday, 24th March. For more on the summit, see link.
March 27, 2007