The Metropolitan Police is to introduce training in stop and search
procedures after the new commissioner revealed he had twice been angered by the
attitude of officers who stopped him.
Sir John Stevens says he "bristled" at the rudeness of one officer
who stopped him in London three years ago. At the time, he was working for Her
Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
In the extraordinary admission he said, "I could feel my hackles
rising. I was not doing anything remotely suspicious but he still stopped me.
"Eventually I had to stop him and have a word with him about the way he
was going about things."
He said he was also angered by the attitude of an officer who stopped him in
the Midlands seven months ago.
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Sir John has now asked for a set of "principles of practice" to be
drawn up for use in stop-and-search training. At present, officers do not
receive training.
The Met is facing a recruitment crisis and needs to attract 180 new officers
a month.
