Government and opposition proposals to scrap “bureaucracy” and “stop and account” with regard to police searches will lead to further victimisation of black and Asian people. Current measures at least attempt to ensure that there is reasonable suspicion before police officers can stop and search people.
Any suggestion that the police force as an institution, and therefore officers operating under its guidelines are no longer racist in an attempt to justify new measures is unfounded and misguided. Currently black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than there white counterparts and Asians are twice as likely – a statistic that has increased through the “war on terror”. If accountability is removed it will lead to further targeting of minorities and could lead to a massive backlash as was seen in Brixton and other areas in the 1980s.
Gun and knife crime is not only a problem within in the black community; it is a problem for society as a whole. Isolating the black community and placing blame squarely upon it is nothing short of racism.
A 2003 Home Office report that analysed police stop and searches “in anticipation of violence” found that the “hit rates” were “surprisingly low, and suggest that police actions alone are unlikely to have a huge impact on the carrying of knives”.
Only by addressing the root causes of the problems – racism, inequality and lack of job and school opportunities, will we stop the problems. The government and opposition groups should refrain from reactionary politics where the only objective is to political point score at the expense of the black community.
Assed Baig
NUS Black Students Committee
WMANUS Anti-Racism Anti-Fascism Officer
Staffordshire University Students’ Union Executive Member
