Changing stop and search in crime plan, Policing Minister supports it

Boris Johnson will begin the plan later on Tuesday.

The policing minister said that there is no reasonable alternative if knife crime is to be tackled. It means the policing minister supports plans to loosen restrictions on stop and search power for police. Kit Malthouse also mentioned there were few other choices.

Changing stop and search in crime plan, Policing Minister supports it

In 2014, the powers were limited by Theresa May when she was home secretary. Back then, they could only be used if police believed there was an urgent violent threat throughout an insufficient number of hours.

Those limitations were relaxed by Priti Patel in 2019. It allows police to carry out hunts 24 hours a day and on areas of potential violence. These changes will be done permanent under the government’s crime-fighting proposals.

Numbers matters in crime plan work

Malthouse said the powers were needed while long-term crime mitigation measures were introduced. He stated that people who are critics of the tactics should look at the numbers. There’s long-term work, while it is not the long-term solution. But in the short term, it can have a big influence on suppressing knife crime.

Beating crime plan was part of the responsibility

Boris Johnson will begin the plan later on Tuesday. However, he and Patel are suffering a reaction from frontline police officers. Last week, the Police Federation of England and Wales gave a motion of no confidence in Patel.

“Beating crime plan” was part of the responsibility to “levelling up” parts of the country troubled by crime and antisocial behaviour, Johnson said. However, Labour analysed the strategy as missing vision and police were weakened.