UK's Suella Braverman tells police to 'ramp up' stop and search

Critics say powers disproportionately target black and ethnic minority communities

UK police officers who use 'stop and search' powers have the full support of Home Secretary Suella Braverman. PA

The Home Secretary is writing to police chiefs across England and Wales calling on them to “ramp up” the use of controversial stop and search powers “to prevent violence and save more lives”.

Officers who use the powers have Suella Braverman's “full support”, she said in a press release.

The Home Office said Ms Braverman has given her full backing to the tactic.

However, the contents of the letter to police chiefs across the country have not been made public.

The Home Secretary also singled out “young black males” who she said are “disproportionately affected” by knife crime.

In the year ending March 2022, ONS statistics showed that 31 out of the 99 young people who died due to knife crime were black.

However, critics of stop and search say it disproportionately targets black and ethnic minority communities.

Government statistics suggest black people are seven times more like to be stopped and searched compared to white people.

Campaign groups have previously warned that relaxing restrictions on police use of the power could compound discrimination.

Suella Braverman – in pictures

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  UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman during a visit to Alexandroupolis on the Greek border with Turkey to see surveillance facilities and learn how Greek security forces monitor the land border. PA

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  Ms Braverman at the Shoah Wall in November in Ostarrichi Park in Vienna that carries the names of 65,000 Jews from Austria who died in the Holocaust. PA

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  Ms Braverman attends a county lines raid with officers from West Midlands Police in Coventry in October. PA

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  Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ms Braverman at a policing roundtable summit at 10 Downing Street in October. AFP

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  Ms Braverman during the Conservative Party Conference in October in Manchester. Getty Images

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  Mr Sunak and Ms Braverman join police for a walkabout in Chelmsford High Street in March. Getty Images

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  Ms Braverman at a building site on the outskirts of Kigali during her visit to Rwanda in March to see houses being constructed that could eventually house deported migrants from the UK. PA

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  Ms Braverman outside No 10 Downing Street in October 2022 after being appointed Britain's home secretary by Mr Sunak. Reuters

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  Ms Braverman, second right, watches Mr Sunak during his first Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in 2022. AFP

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  Ms Braverman at the scene in Oxfordshire in 2022 where an Albanian woman believed to be responsible for helping transport migrants to the UK in small boats was arrested. PA

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  Ms Braverman applauds as Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers her keynote address on the final day of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham in 2022. AFP

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  Ms Braverman during the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham in 2022. Getty Images

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  Ms Braverman at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham in 2022. Getty Images

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  King Charles III greets Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Suella Braverman and interim Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Dame Lynne Owens when meeting emergency service workers in London in 2022. Getty Images

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  Ms Braverman arriving in Downing Street for the first Cabinet meeting with new Prime Minister Liz Truss in September 2022. PA

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  Attorney General for England and Wales and then Conservative Party leadership candidate Ms Braverman at the Conservative Way Forward relaunch event in London in July 2022. Getty Images

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  Ms Braverman, in pink, listens as former prime minister Boris Johnson addresses his Cabinet in Downing Street in June 2022. Reuters

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  Ms Braverman arrives at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London for the first time since the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Getty Images

“Carrying weapons is a scourge on our society, and anyone doing so is risking their own lives as well as the lives of those around them,” Ms Braverman said.

“This dangerous culture must be brought to a stop.

“My first priority is to keep the public safe, and people who insist on carrying a weapon must know that there will be consequences.

“The police have my full support to ramp up the use of stop and search, wherever necessary, to prevent violence and save more lives.”

She added that she backs the police in tackling knife crime among young black males.

“Every death from knife crime is a tragedy,” she said.

“That’s why I also back the police in tackling this blight in communities which are disproportionately affected, such as among young black males.

“We need to do everything in our power to crack down on this violence.”