The Sunday Telegraph reports as follows on the release of Official Metropolitan Police statistics ;-
90 % of street crimes, knife crimes and gun crimes are committed by men rather than women.
12% of London’s men are black.
the Statistics lead the Metropolitan Police to think that black men in London have committed
54 % of street crimes
46 % of knife crimes
50 % plus, of gun crimes (67% according to Daisy McAndrew on LBC Radio today)
The Sunday Telegraph adds a caveat - i.e. the statistics do not actually show that those, in the above percentages, are convicted in court of street crime are black men but they do indicate that where police catch their suspect, that suspect is black.
“In the 21st century, the principal grounds on which the Met is accused of racism is that black men make up a much higher proportion of the people stopped and searched by police officers than any other ethnic group.
The Equality Commission assumes that such a practice shows that officers must be covertly racist.
But the disproportionate number of black men identified by victims as perpetrators demonstrates that racism need not have anything to do with it: when the victim identifies the assailant as a black male, it is logical, indeed necessary, for officers to start investigating black suspects”
http://www.telegraph....n-crime-and-race.html
If these official police statistics are correct does it justify “disproportionately targeting black men” under stop and search ?
What do you think ?