Can the police overcome distrust in stop and search?

Britain's largest police force has published a "charter" for stop and search, two years after it was severely criticised in an independent review for "over-policing and under-protecting" Black Londoners.

- JOHN RENTOUL

It is the response by the Metropolitan Police to Baroness Casey's demand for a "fundamental reset" of the tactic, which is widely considered to be used in a discriminatory way against members of ethnic minorities.

The Met says the charter has been put together following 18 months of engagement with more than 8,500 Londoners of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. It includes commitments that officers should use respectful communication and tone when carrying out stop and search, that they will be given improved training and supervision, and that complaints will be handled more effectively.

Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, said the charter was not about reducing the use of stop and search, but about “doing it better by improving the quality of encounters, informed by the views of the public it is intended to protect”.

Hasn’t stop and search always been controversial?