Red tape cut in knife crime drive

Police in knife crime hot-spots are to get powers that ministers say will reduce red tape when stopping people for informal questioning on the street.

Officers in 10 areas, including London, Manchester and Merseyside, will no longer have to fill out lengthy forms.

A second scheme to reduce forms needed to record actual crimes is also being introduced, says the Home Office.
Special forms for "stop and account" were introduced to combat racism, but police say they are bureaucratic.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the new stop-and-account measures would be introduced to the 10 "Tackling Knives Action Programme" areas from the end of October.

Officers will radio in the subject's ethnicity and hand over a card explaining how they should complain if they feel unfairly treated. The new measures will be rolled out nationally from next year.

Ms Smith said: "Giving police the means to dramatically reduce form-filling bureaucracy in these 10 priority areas will free up valuable officer time to further clamp down on knife crime.

"The recent Policing Green Paper set out radical plans to cut red tape to allow police to focus on the most serious crime and on local issues."

Police in the knife crime hot-spots have been given portable search arches and have increased street stops to identify people carrying blades.

In London, 77,000 searches since May have led to 3,300 arrests and the seizure of 2,200 knives.