Police 'automatically' stop black youths

By Helen Roxburgh

ISLINGTON councillors have admitted concerns about police intimidating innocent young black people, by stopping and searching them too often.
At a meeting of the Regeneration Committee, councillors expressed concern that police were not always sensitive when they approach young people, and that too often they searched the wrong people.
Cllr Julia Williams, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hillrise, said: “A lot of youths I meet complain that they get searched more because they are a particular ethnic minority.
“They [police] automatically pick on black people, and abuse them.”
Cllr Williams expressed concern that police were unnecessarily rough during stop and searches, and said that she believed certain youths were targeted more than others.
She said her son was regularly stopped and searched when he was in his teens. She believes he was targeted because he was black.
Alva Bailey, Islington Council’s Community Safety Manager, said that he believed police did intimidate young people when stopping and searching, often unintentionally.
He said the Safer Neighbourhood Teams - designated police officers for each area of the borough funded by the council - were less intimidating to the public because one of their key responsibilities is to build community trust in the police.
A report by the Metropolitan Police Authority shows that a black person is almost four times more likely to be searched than a white person in Islington, even though 75 per cent of the borough are white, with 6 per cent of the population describing themselves as black.
According to the report, for every 1000 black residents living in Islington, an average of 31 would have been searched between October and December last year. For white residents, only 8 per 1000 had been searched.
Cllr Greg Foxsmith, chair of the Regeneration Review Committee, commended the work of the Safer Neighbourhoods Team in improving community relations in the borough.
However, he also expressed concern that certain youths would be picked on more than others, and that the stop and searches might be perceived as discriminatory.
He said: “How do you do a stop and search without alienating some young people? The balance is through the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and intelligence. We are very aware of that charge of picking on the wrong people.”
However, Mr Bailey said police could not abandon their policy of stop and search just because it might upset those being searched.
“Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil at this point,” he said.