Met's knife crime policy attacked

The Metropolitan Police has been criticised for its use of stop and search in tackling knife crime.

Laura Richards, former head of the Met's homicide prevention unit, told the BBC stop and search could make gangs stronger and the problem worse.

The Met defended its tactics, saying it had community support.
Last month the Met set up a special taskforce in London using stop and search, sending teams of officers into stabbing hotspots.

Ms Richards, a criminal behavioural psychologist, told BBC Radio 4's The Investigation using stop and search was a sticking plaster, and that it could push marginalised young men further into gang membership.
"We're seeing a number of guys committing the murders are already marginalised, already excluded and we are trying those kind of tactics on those individuals. I fear we just make the problem worse."
Ms Richards ran the homicide prevention unit for four years. The unit, which was formed in 2003, split knife murders into two categories - domestic and street attacks.

Domestic knife killers tended to be older and white, while those who committed street attacks were aged under 20 and disproportionately black.
Domestic killings have fallen dramatically in recent years, but street murders have been rising.

A four-year study by Ms Richards' unit had found almost 90% of knife killers had previously been known to police.
"Not only did we flag up problems, we flagged up solutions," she said.

The unit proposed a multi-agency approach targeted at offenders who ran the risk of escalating violent behaviour.
"You don't just wake up one morning and kill somebody," Ms Richards said.

However, the government has dismissed claims stop and search has made knife crime worse. Home Office minister Tony McNulty told the BBC there was much more to the policy.
"[We are] working with schools, education, trying to tackle that sort of cultural 'it's cool to carry a knife' type dimension," he said.
The policy has been more targeted and intelligence-led since June. About 1500 arrests have been made using Section 60 and other powers, he said.

Stop and search is part of a deterrence and awareness campaign, he added.
Keith Jarratt, a serving sergeant and a former president of the National Black Police Association, agreed stop and search was a good deterrent but just part of a strategy.

"If someone knows that they're likely to be stopped and searched, who is not a hardened criminal, they will stop carrying weapons, " he said.

Rose Fitzpatrick, deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said stop and search was the right tactic.
"Stop and search is part of what we're doing but we're also sending a very visible message to young people that our aim is to keep them safe," she said.