Cops MUST ramp up stop and searches to stamp out knife crime – it’s a ‘vital tool’, says policing minister
COPS must ramp up the use of stop and search to stamp out knife crime, the policing minister has declared.
Chris Philp said the tactic is a “vital tool” and that police officers should not be afraid of carrying it out.
His comments come amid warnings that teens are being sold knives on social media apps, including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
The national lead for policing knife crime Commander Stephen Clayman said the “accessibility” of knives online was still “really concerning”.
Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Philp said: “The police must use the powers available to them without fear or favour.
“I want to see (the police) take a robust approach and this starts with increasing the use of stop and search.
“It is a vital tool in taking knives off our streets, yet it’s not used nearly often enough.”
Deployment of stop and search has surged from a low of 280,000 in 2017, after successive home secretaries reversed the restrictions imposed by Theresa May a decade ago.
But the use by the Metropolitan police has continued to fall.
Met Commissioner Mark Rowley pledged to increase its use earlier this month – after admitting it had fallen partly due to officers’ lack of “confidence” and fears of “complaints”.
The Home Office announced on Tuesday it would give £3.5 million extra funding for research and development of new technologies – which would allow knives to be detected from a distance when a suspect passes through two points.
An additional £547,863 will also be given to the Metropolitan Police to fund four more live facial recognition camera vans.
Laws around zombie knives, machetes and swords are also to be tightened up from September, giving police greater powers to seize weapons found in private properties.
It will be illegal to possess, sell, manufacture or transport zombie-style knives and machetes, and the maximum penalty for the possession of these and other banned weapons will also increase from six months to two years.
A surrender and compensation scheme is due to launch in the summer.
Official figures show knife crime surged by 7 per cent in the year to December 2023.
In the year to March 2023, 82 per cent of teenage homicide victims were killed with a knife, compared to 73 per cent in the previous year.