I’ve been stopped and searched but, like many mothers of black teenagers, I know it saves lives 

The first sign that anything was wrong was the flashing blue light behind our car. ‘That can’t be for us,’ I thought. But it was.

This was in North London, years ago. I was in my 20s and on a date with a man I’d met only once before. As we pulled over, two uniformed police officers got out and approached us, one on each side.

I stepped out of the car, as requested, and the policeman nearest to me started asking the strangest questions: How well did I know the driver? Where were we going? Where did I come from?

All sorts of explanations were racing in confusion through my mind. I barely knew my date, though he seemed a lovely guy.

He was driving safely, in a car that was expensive without being flashy.

He happened to be white and I, of course, am black.

Even as someone who has been stopped by police, and whose racial profile may have played a part in this, I know it is the most effective tool we have in the fight against knife crime [File image] 

It was only when I heard the other officer ask my date whether he knew my surname that the penny dropped.

They thought I was a hooker. Earlier, they’d seen me getting into a car and they assumed I could be a prostitute, being picked up by a customer on the street.

My jaw dropped. I was mortified. But the police were incredibly polite, even as they explained they were going to have to search us both. I don’t know what they were looking for — drugs, perhaps, but maybe weapons too.

Afterwards, the funny side struck me. I knew that those over-zealous officers had just given me an after-dinner story that would last me the rest of my life.

But I wouldn’t have found it so easy to laugh it off if the police had not been so respectful and consistently courteous.

That story came back to me yesterday, when Suella Braverman told all 43 police forces in England and Wales that they have her ‘full support to ramp up the use of stop and search, wherever necessary, to prevent violence and save more lives in communities which are disproportionately affected, such as among young black males.

Carrying weapons is a scourge on our society’, the Home Secretary said. ‘This dangerous culture must be brought to a stop. We need to do everything in our power to crack down on this violence.’

Braverman urged police to arrest and investigate anyone unlawfully obstructing a stop and search and called on forces to publish bodycam footage quickly to stop police facing ‘trial by social media’.

I back ‘Suella the Brave’, as I like to call her, to the hilt on this.

I want to see stop and search used to maximum effect.

Even as someone who has been stopped by police, and whose racial profile may have played a part in this, I know it is the most effective tool we have in the fight against knife crime. It has never been more important than it is now.

I am not exaggerating. In the 12 months to September 2022, police recorded more than 45,000 assaults with knives and other offensive weapons across Britain. That figure is a 21 per cent increase from almost 38,000 in the previous year.

I back ‘Suella the Brave’, as I like to call her, to the hilt on this. I want to see stop and search used to maximum effect

Since 2019, 50,000 weapons have been found and confiscated through stop and search. That’s 50,000 potential deadly assaults avoided.

And the tragic truth is that black teens are disproportionately affected by knife crime.

Of the 99 people aged under 25 who died in knife attacks between March 2021 and March 2022, 31 of them were black. That’s nearly a third — yet black people make up only four per cent of the UK population.

Take the case of 16-year-old Marques Walker, who was caught three times with a knife during searches.

In an awful indictment of our weak legal system, Walker was released on bail after the third instance, when he was found in possession of a very large zombie knife on a bus in Croydon, South London. The consequence was as tragic as it was predictable: Walker stabbed another black youth, 14-year-old Jermaine Cools, to death. Jermain was unarmed.

Far from feeling any remorse, Walker recorded an ugly rap boasting about his crime.

Last month, 16-year-old Renell Charles from East London became another tragic victim. In a heartbreaking twist, he had recorded a very different kind of video only a few months ago, talking about the dangers of knife crime.

There are too many teenagers walking the streets with knives, and that’s a certain recipe for violence and murder.

Many of those youths will say they carry weapons because they are scared, or because it’s part of the gang culture that has poisoned their lives.

Others do it to defend themselves when they are peddling drugs. Some do it out of bravado, because they think it makes them look tough.

Whatever their reason, the knives have to be taken away from them, for the sake of their own safety.

And every mother of every black teenager will tell you the same thing.

I have a child that age, and I have no objection if the police need to stop them and carry out a search — with one major caveat. It must be done in a respectful, polite and dignified way.

Sadly, I’ve seen why stop and search has been so controversial — particularly among ethnic minorities.

Just yesterday morning, during a shopping excursion, I was stopped again.

Unlike that time in my 20s, it was not so polite.

Since 2019, 50,000 weapons have been found and confiscated through stop and search. That’s 50,000 potential deadly assaults avoided [File image] 

As I walked out of a High Street chemist, the security alarms went off. A guard demanded to know what I had in my bags, in a manner that was rude, aggressive and sarcastic. Of course, I understand shops have to crack down on theft, and the inconvenience of being stopped is the price the rest of us have to pay for the criminal intent of a few. But no one should be subjected to rudeness from the security staff.

I proved I wasn’t a thief and reprimanded him. Though he never apologised, I got on with my day.

That’s a textbook example of how stop and search should never work, whether it’s the police or a private security guard.

And I’ll also admit, the police have failed on this in the past. No right-thinking person wants to read of officers going into a school, as happened in Hackney last year, and strip-searching a 15-year-old girl.

The officers in question were suspended during an investigation, claiming they had reason to suspect she was in possession of cannabis. But that’s no excuse for the appalling way the pupil was treated.

The answer is not to rein back on stop and search but to improve police training. In particular, forces including the Met should stop hiding behind the weasel phrase ‘institutional racism’.

There’s no such thing as a ‘racist organisation’ — only racist people who need to take responsibility for their own prejudices. As long as they are able to blame ‘institutional racism’, they will do.

There is nothing inherently racist about stop and search. I’d like to see it extended all over the country, wherever knife and drug crime is prevalent — and that means everywhere in the UK. If it saves lives, it’s worth doing.

And if you are stopped by police and searched, my advice is to treat it as my father does — as a necessary evil. He’s a successful businessman, who has driven luxury cars with personalised number plates for as long as I can remember.

Ever so often, he tells me with a rich chuckle: ‘Police stopped me again. They don’t expect to see a black man driving a big Mercedes!’

I swear he loves it.