Lewisham police are speaking to members of the community who have been stopped and searched in a bid to ensure the power is used correctly.  

Officers also have to answer to stop and search panels, who look into how the power is carried out and how it can be improved.  

It comes after the Mayor of London launched his action plan in November, which aims to increase the confidence of London’s Black communities in the MPS.  

See related: Met commissioner admits force 'not free of racism or bias'

The plan is focused on how police use their powers and force, how officers are held to account, how the force works with the community, and making the workforce more representative of Londoners when it comes to race. 

See related: Mayor calls for traffic stop review to address racism concerns

Black Londoners are 3.7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white Londoners – this increases to seven times more likely for stops involving weapons, points or blades.  

And although 82 per cent of Londoners agree that officers are polite and respectful using stop and search, this drops to 64 per cent among those from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. 

Police in London have been accused of racial profiling over vehicle stops, stop and searches, and use of force. 

Lewisham was in the news this year after a Black woman was retrained by six officers during an arrest. 

See related: Investigation into arrest of black woman in Lewisham begins

A Black school pastoral support worker was stopped in his car – the officers found nothing and he said they had no grounds to search his vehicle.  

Chief Superintendent Rob Atkin MBE, commander of the south east BCU covering Lewisham, Bexley, and Greenwich,  spoke to the local democracy service to explain what’s being done to improve trust locally.  

In London, 82 per cent of people agreed that police should use stop and search. But in Lewisham that figure drops to 65 per cent.  

Only 60 per cent of Lewisham residents feel that police use their powers fairly. 

CS Atkin said the focus is on ensuring police use their powers correctly and said the lower figure is “about how it’s done”. 

He said: “Stop and search is a really good tool for detecting criminality. The Met’s number one [aim] at the moment is to reduce violent crime, particularly knife crime, and particularly within young people.” 

He said the SE BCU positive outcomes – when police find something after a stop and search – has been “consistently the highest in London” for past few months at around 20/25 per cent. 

But CS Atkin said it must be done properly and with respect.  

“We want to raise confidence in communities about the use of those powers, but also make sure they’re not disproportionately used against parts of the community, in particular the Black community,” he said.  

“[We want] officers making sure they give the individual the grounds, they’re explaining the reason for the stop and search, and it’s done in a way that’s both polite and reasonable. 

“And the people that are at the end of that encounter, whether it’s a stop and search, or stop in the street, or stop in relation to Covid, we want them to walk away feeling they’ve been treated fairly,” he said.  

The grounds for stop and search cannot just be a “smell of cannabis”, he said.  

“Stop and search is really the only way proactively to see if someone’s got something they shouldn’t have on them. But the grounds need to be there. 

“[This includes] the person’s behaviour, demeaner, they might be in a known area for drug use, they might have had complaints,” CS Atkin said.  

Part of officer training now involves speaking to members of the community who have been stopped and searched. 

“It’s important to get the community involved in the training and have people who have been stopped by the police. They may have had a bad experience.  

“When we get new officers they can hear it from the side of someone that’s on the end of the use of the powers,” CS Atkin said.  

He said training for new officers also includes a focus on inclusivity, racism, and unconscious bias. 

When officers join the BCU they get further training to look at local issues.  

“We talk about things like the New Cross Fire, things like Stephen Lawrence’s death, events that have been significant for our borough and our BCU,” CS Atkin said. 

The SE BCU now has a stop and search and use of force board, which is chaired by a member of the community who understands local issues.  

“It’s really important to have an independent person,” CS Atkin said.  

He said the board is looking to improve training for officers by engaging with the community. They are doing this by inviting members of the Black community to training or ride-alongs to give feedback. 

“[This is] to understand the local context, the history, how people feel about policing,” he said.  

The Met also has stop and search panels, which review stop and searches.  

“They look at videos, they look at the grounds that officers have for searches and they give independent feedback to us about the quality of that encounter,” CS Atkin said.  

The force is also looking to improve engagement with Black communities, though it’s been difficult to get out and about because of Covid-19.  

“Our plan is to get deeper into that community through churches, groups, to get our public to see officers in a mode that’s not just enforcement,” he said.  

It emerged in a recent public attitude survey that Lewisham has the lowest trust in the police out of any London borough.  

See related: Lewisham's trust in Met Police lowest of any London borough

On why that is, CS Atkin said the response to crime is one of the main things that affects trust in the police.

He said his officers are on order to do “all we reasonably can to solve that crime” and to provide updates to victims.  

But he added: “I accept that we need to do more.” 

“My plea to the community would be get involved – get involved in the local ward panels, the scrutiny panels for stop and search, look at policing and think ‘is that a career I could get involved in and really make a difference to my local community?’” CS Atkin said.  

The percentage of officers who are from ethnic minority backgrounds is 15.4 per cent, compared to more than 40 per cent of Londoners. 

The Met now has a Black, Asian, and ethnic minority recruitment target of 40 per cent. CS Atkin urged Lewisham residents to look into a police career.  

“It’s important to have a more reflective work force, to have people understanding the local context and the local community. 

“We’ll need about 6,000 more police officers in London. We’re recruiting directly from London and it’s a great opportunity for our young community in the borough,” he said.