‘Racism widespread in UK police’

Indicating continued racism in British police, a new Home Office report today said ‘‘stop and search’’ operations under ...

Indicating continued racism in British police, a new Home Office report today said ‘‘stop and search’’ operations under the anti-terrorism law have dramatically increased, with searches on Asians witnessing a massive rise of 302 per cent.

Reflecting increasing fears of a major terrorist attack in the wake of September 11, the Home Office statistics showed ‘‘stop and searches’’ under the terror legislation more than doubled in 2002-03 compared to the previous year. A racial breakdown showed the number of such checks on ethnic minorities increased more than those on White people, the report said. Overall, Black people were six times more likely to be stopped and searched than Whites, the document, ‘‘Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System’’, indicated.

In the previous year, they were five times more likely to be stopped and searched. Asians suffered the highest increases in stop and searches under the terrorism act powers, rising 302 per cent, from 744 in 2001-02 to 2,989 in 2002-03.

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In the same period, stop and searches under the terrorism act rose 118 per cent, from 6,629 to 14,429 for white people, and by 230 per cent, from 529 to 1,745 for black people. According to the report, police in some areas had reduced their use of the tactic in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence report, which claimed the operation was being used disproportionately against ethnic minorities.

The figures published today showed a total of 21,577 searches were made under anti-terror law in 2002-03 in England and Wales, compared with 8,550 in 2001-02.

In 2002-03, 61 per cent of these searches happened in the metropolitan police area and a further 21 per cent in London.

The Metropolitan Police stop-and-searches under the Terrorism Act have risen from 2,038 to 8,359 for Whites, from 258 to 1,175 for Blacks and from 459 to 2,241 for Asians. In total, 869,164 stop and searches were recorded in 2002-03 in England and Wales, a rise of 22 per cent on the year before and the highest level since 1998-1999.

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There was a 17 per cent increase in searches for Whites, a 38 per cent increase for Black people and a 36 per cent increase for Asians. The Home Office has also published regional year-on-year comparisons for the number of people searched per 1,000 of population.

The report said the most common reason for conducting a search for Blacks, Asians and those of other ethnic appearance was drugs. — (PTI)

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