Stop and search is ‘not racially targeted’
Home office minister Hazel Blears has insisted police stop and search powers will not be targeted at any section of the community.
She was speaking following a meeting with Muslim leaders, police and MPs in Oldham, Lancashire, to discuss community relations in the wake of the London bombings.
Reiterating her earlier comments that all searches would be on the basis of intelligence, she told reporters: “Picking people up just on the basis that they’re Muslim is never going to get the result you want.”
Ms Blears urged the police to explain the use of their powers to communities, later telling the BBC’s World at One it was “really important” forces explain why they are doing what they are doing.
She insisted that whenever stop and search is used, where people understand it, “the vast majority of decent people want the police to use the powers to enable people to be caught”.
Ms Blears previously told the home affairs select committee that anti-terror powers will be disproportionately experienced by the Muslim community.
Today she sought to clarify her stance, telling the programme: “I was trying to emphasis that the powers will be used on the basis of where the threat is, what the intelligence is at the time.”
The minister added: “These are sensitive and difficult issues, but if you are doing good policing, you are using your powers based on intelligence.”
This morning’s meeting was one of eight planned over the summer between the minister and Muslim leaders, with a view to coming up with “concrete proposals” aimed at re-engaging the Muslim community.
Overall, Ms Blears said the discussions were “good”, and confirmed they covered foreign policy and the anger felt by many people about the war in Iraq.
“People will say some difficult things that we don’t necessarily agree with, but we have to take on that argument,” she said, insisting one of the reasons for the meetings was to have that debate.
But she rejected comments by shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve earlier today that anger within the Muslim community makes suicide bombings “explicable”.
“I think people can fundamentally disagree with policy issues, with foreign policy, but I don’t see any justification for people blowing themselves up and murdering hundreds of other people,” she told World at One.
While she had no doubt people felt angry about the Iraq war, efforts were being made to channel some of that anger through the democratic process.
“That’s why I want to find platforms particularly for young people and women’s voices to be heard so we can make sure we can have a robust argument,” she added.
