Does This Now Mean That Police Officers Will Now Think Twice Before Daring To Stop Black Motorists?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2455553/Stephen-Lawrences-brother-Stuart-WAS-picked-Met-Police.html

It is reported that Mr Lawrence has been stopped on 25 occasions in 19 years, which isn't all that excessive in my opinion, especially when one takes into consideration that According to the IPCC report, 74 per cent of the police driver’s stops between September 2012 and March 2013 were on Afro-Caribbean people.

But then even those figures can be a little deceptive, especially if the patrol stoppages were carried out in a predominate black area.

No this seems to be a case where a high profile figure is using his position to attack the police, and the authorities have taken the decision to discipline just one sole police officer, in their attempt to be seen as having taken some action.

/// More than 20 other, unrelated allegations of racial discrimination – made against the Met by Mr Lawrence - were rejected by the IPCC. ///

[sp1814]

Svejk

No - I'm a terrible driver. I speed all the time and my life's goal is to beat the traffic lights whenever I can.

Thing is - if you're stopped once a month by the police and you're white, it would be something you'd bring up at a dinner party as being odd.

When you're a young black man, it's something that's pretty much par for the course. Almost like road tax.

I asked my nephew about this and he told me that his mates just shrug it off.

Another thing to realize here is that this isn't necessarily a race thing. It's more likely to be based on geography and economics.

I who'll lay money on the fact that young white men get stopped a hell of a lot more in the poorer districts of Liverpool, Glasgow and Ulster than their peers in Cambridge, Oxford and Buckinghamshire.

[New Judge]

And might that be, perchance, that young white men in the poorer districts of Liverpool, Glasgow and Ulster commit more crime than their peers in Cambridge, Oxford and Buckinghamshire?

Just a thought.

[pixie373]

I may not have read the thread thoroughly enough. Sorry, if that's the case. Does anyone know the statistics of what percentage actually get charged of black or white people? If the percentage of successful stop and searches on black people is considerably lower than that on white people- it would suggest discrimination, because those are the innocent motorists.

[sp1814]

Errr yes New Judge.

However, whenever I've tried to explain that high crime rates in black areas share the same distinctions as high crime in poor white areas, I'm told (by AOG) that I'm just fudging the issue.

Isn't that true AOG?

[New Judge]

I would say you're doing nothing of the sort, sp.

Police should be able to target their resources in a ay that most effectively achieves their key objectives - the prevention and detection of crime. Everything else should be secondary. If that means upsetting a few people here and there - whatever their colour - it's a price worth paying. They should not have to undertake complex statistical analyses to show theay are not practicing discrimination.

[FredPuli43]

Yes, NJ, and how does this targeting fit in with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and, indeed, the Code of Practice A, resulting from it?

The police are on entitled to stop and search if they have reasonable suspicion of a crime and that the person they stop and search is committing it. How does stopping and searching people in general because people in their age group or of their colour have committed crimes fit that ?

[Orderlimit]

It fits perfectly with PACE Code A Fred, I take it you are referring Sec 1 searches?.

[Svejk]

What really offends me is young lads,usually black,who go out for a pizza,a game of football or to school but don't make it home cos they've been murdered by would be tough-guy.
So if a few gangstas get hassled by the police, who cares.
As for innocent lads getting stopped, you could call it collateral
damage and you could lay the blame for it where it belongs, not with the police,imo.
Anyway don't lose any sleep over it cos I'll guarantee its seen as a badge of honour by the kids that get stopped.

[Orderlimit]

The primary purpose of stop searches is to enable officers to eliminate or confirm suspicions about individuals 'without' exercising their power of arrest.

The stop and search power (Sec 1 PACE) can only be used when a person is suspected to be in possession of articles used for burglary/theft, stolen goods, offensive weapons, bladed articles and items used to commit criminal damage.,

Code A states the following: Targeting searches in a particular area at specified crime problems increases their effectiveness and minimises inconvenience to law-abiding members of the public. It also helps in justifying the use of searches both to those who are searched and to the public'.