Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy has criticised stop and search after a 13-year-old boy came away from a Police encounter with cuts to his wrists and a swollen eye, calling the policy “discriminatory” and “dangerously counter-productive” and urging a review.
Benjamin Olajive, 13, was on his way to McDonald’s last Tuesday when he was swarmed by police responding to a report of a black person with a knife. Police said the ‘item’ someone reported as what they believed to be a knife turned out to be an afro comb.
Videos sent to Metro.co.uk showed five officers putting Benjamin, who has ADHD and PTSD, in handcuffs while they searched his clothes and backpack for a weapon
According to witness statements, the stop-and-search lasted about 45 minutes before Benjamin was put in a van and taken to Brixton police station.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP explained:
“I can only imagine what a traumatic experience this must have been for Benjamin and his friends and how much it must have shaken their trust in the Police. It’s so sad how many Black teenage boys are being put through this when they’re just trying to go about their lives.
“The fact that the Government are now intent on ramping up these powers, without any care for the damage they are already doing, shows they aren’t interested in creating a police service that works for all communities.
“Evidence-based stop and search does have a role to play in keeping people safe, but random stop and search is a blunt tool, which is clearly discriminatory and dangerously counter-productive. A proper review of the policy is long overdue.
“Giving the Police ever more powers does nothing to address the complex social causes of crime. We should be focusing on the tried and tested solutions that would actually make communities like ours safer: whether that’s reversing education cuts, ending school exclusions, improving mental health services, or taking people out of poverty.”
Background
- Last year, Bell joined demonstrators to call for an end to Section 60 Stop and Search: https://
londonnewsonline.co.uk/mp- calls-for-end-to-stop-and- search-to-restore-black- peoples-trust-in-the-police/ - The Policing, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill introduces new stop and search powers, which the Government has admitted will disproportionately impact Black, Asian, GRT, and other minority ethnic groups and defended: https://www.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/ home-news/policing-bill- discrimination-black- travellers-b1919272.html - Bell recently tabled amendments to the Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (New Clause 56 and New Clause 57), respectively calling for a review of Stop and Search and a public inquiry into the unequal treatment of individuals from Black, Asian, GRT, and other minority ethnic groups in policing and the criminal justice system: https://publications.
parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/ 58-02/0133/amend/police_rm_ rep_0630.pdf - Lambeth has the lowest expressed level of confidence in the Police of any borough in London, with just 52% of residents agreeing that “the police treat everyone fairly regardless of who they are”: https://www.london.gov.
uk/what-we-do/mayors-office- policing-and-crime-mopac/data- and-statistics/public-voice- dashboard - In London, young Black men are 19 times more likely to be stopped and searched: https://www.
theguardian.com/law/2020/dec/ 03/young-black-males-in- london-19-times-more-likely- to-be-stopped-and-searched