Stop and search overhaul will mean 'more knives and guns on the streets', says MP
MPs have used a parliamentary debate to demand the scrapping of controversial plans to overhaul stop and search in the West Midlands.
The region's police and crime commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster has been accused of attempting to scale down stop and search after he questioned its effectiveness in his crime plan.
He suggested raising the 'reasonable grounds' threshold for a lawful search to 50 per cent – a target Tory MPs have claimed is unachievable without reducing the number of searches.
Nicola Richards, Conservative MP for West Bromwich East, raised the issue in a Westminster Hall debate.
She said stop and search "saves lives" and was one of the most effective methods police have "to take dangerous weapons and drugs off our streets quickly".
Mr Foster's comments had "undermined" officers going about their job and compromised the "zero-tolerance messaging we should be seeing", she added.
Ms Richards said: "If the Police and Crime Commissioner solely bases his measure of success on positive search rates, he will in effect be limiting the use of stop and search to artificially create more positive searches from a pool of less overall searches.
"The statistics do not back this approach up, and I am concerned this policy will lead to more knives and drugs on our streets."
She called for investment in training to get more Behavioural Detection Officers (BDOs) on the streets, and better public engagement through stop and search scrutiny committees.
Mike Wood, Conservative MP for Dudley South, said it was "common sense" that stop and search "remains a vital tool for combatting the scourge of serious violence and keeping people safe".
He said the language used by Mr Foster sent out a "signal to officers" that stop and search should only be used sparingly.
Mr Wood, whose father was a West Midlands Police officer for 29 years, said the PCC had "introduced such a note of caution" that officers may avoid using the powers even if they believed someone may be carrying a weapon.
He also questioned why crime was increasing drastically in the West Midlands while it was falling elsewhere in the country.
Labour MPs including former policing minister Jack Dromey and Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood hit back, arguing that more funding was needed for 1,000 extra officers in the region to help reduce soaring crime rates.
Erdington MP Mr Dromey denied there were plans to scale back stop and search, saying Mr Foster wanted to make it "more efficient and effective in removing dangerous weapons off our streets".
He said the main concern for policing in the region was that budget cuts had left people waiting "forever" for the police to arrive or saying, "we rang and they never come out".
Mr Dromey urged Tory MPs to join Labour calls for more cash to return officer numbers to 2010 levels.
Policing Minister Kit Malthouse MP urged police forces to use stop and search "judiciously and proportionately". He said PCCs should aim to "sell the tactic" as being critical to fighting crime.
