Letters | 4 July 2019

Support for stop and search

Sir: Mary Wakefield is rightly exasperated by fatuous comments over police use of stop and search (‘Stop posturing over stop and search’, 29 June).

Perhaps this year there will be 200 murders of children by other children. Swamping areas with police is obviously a visible response to the problem, but gangs know there is a reluctance to stop and search and this is part of the reason for their arrogant attitude. Stop and search is street policing in the raw. It often leads to arrest, and it can be a messy, frustrating, confrontational business, even when done with tact and patience.

As a Met PC for 31 years — Lewisham, then Islington — I went through hundreds of pockets. Nearly all the searches were resented: who wants to be frisked? There was a grudging acceptance that I had a reason to search, but no self-respecting youth is going to let plod ruin his Friday night without putting on a bit of a show.