Blacks are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than whites in England and Wales, according to the latest Ministry of Justice figures. Overall, 15% of those stopped in the year to April 2009 were black. The Conservative Police Minister, Nick Herbert, commented: “It is unacceptable that an individual might be targeted because of their race”. Since half of all these searches took place in London, where blacks are disproportionately responsible for a whole variety of crimes, including robbery, street violence, gun and knife crimes (although the previous government and their PC PC cohorts made it so difficult to identify criminals and their victims by race, that no one’s absolutely sure what the relevant figures really are).
Surely racially profiling potential criminals is only objectionable when the race in question isn’t more likely to be guilty of the crimes the police are trying to prevent?
It reminds me of a one particularly surreal episode, when New York’s police chief proudly announced that his officers’ increased stop and search activities on the subway system in response to the 7/11 carnage in London were not racially targeted.
Why not?
Did he seriously imagine that little old white ladies were likely to be terrorists? Given that an overwhelming proportion of terrorist attacks on Western cities in the Noughties were carried out by young men of a distinctly Arabic appearance, why wouldn’t you target that group?
Similarly, if blacks commit a disproportionately high percentage of street crime in London, why shouldn’t they be disproportionately selected for stop and search?
The police are there to protect our lives and our property – not our feelings! Given the amount of black-on-black crime in London, I’m amazed that any law-abiding black person – who isn’t some wanky, politically-motivated “community spokesman” – would think there was anything wrong with the figures released yesterday.
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