Lewisham councillors have made calls for front-line police to undergo anti-discrimination training and for young people to be given ‘know your rights’ cards, in response to the stop and search programme.

A group of eight councillors researched the local impact of the controversial programme, seeking views from the community, police and anti stop and search group, StopWatch.

They also criticised the transparency of complaint procedures and said they did not have confidence it was transparent or independent.

“The way it’s set up seems to discourage those…most likely to actually make a complaint,” Cllr James Rathbone, who headed up the report, said.

In Lewisham, black people are 4.6 times more likely to be searched while more than 90 per cent of those searched by police are male.

Cllr Rathbone said he had heard from young people who supported stop and search, but more needed to be done to help young black males.

Speaking at a mayor and cabinet meeting, he said: “There was a lot of support for stop and search in young people because they are scared of knife crime.

“It is a programme which on it’s basic level should be widely supported.  The number of arrests are quite impressive.

“But it’s the failure to engage with the community in a positive manner that has led to an exception in that cohort of young black men who are so heavily being hit.

“If you are not carrying  weapons and have never been involved in gang violence, but because you are a young black male you find yourself being stopped by the police, it can feel personal and it can feel unfair,” he added.

The councillors also looked into the local impact of anti-terrorism programme Prevent, but were hindered by a shortage of data, Cllr Rathbone said.

The group have asked Mayor Damien Egan to write to the Home Secretary about the lack of local data on Prevent.

The Mayor and cabinet will write a response to the calls at a safer stronger communities select committee.