Jermaine Jenas: stop-and-search must not cause 'hate and mistrust'
1 June 2021, 12:47
Jermaine Jenas says Stop and Search can cause 'hate and mistrust'
Football pundit Jermaine Jenas has told Nick Ferrari stop-and-search must be done in a way that does not cause "hate and mistrust" between police and the community.
Jermaine, who has filmed a documentary called The Truth About Police Stop and Search, spoke to Nick on LBC this morning where he discussed issues around the controversial police tactic.
“If you are a young black man in the UK, in London in particular, you are nine times more like to be stopped by police," he said.
“From my opinion, this is not an attack on the police at all. One of the big things that I learnt from making the documentary, from start to finish…I came into the experience thinking, ‘We need to get rid of Stop and Search,’ but having spoken to a lot of the people being stopped on a regular basis, my mind changed as I got to the middle and end of the documentary.
“It was nothing to do with, ‘Let’s get rid of Stop and Search,’ it was more, ‘You know what? The police need this as a tool to help protect the public.’
“But the way that they implement it, and the way that it is done... it seems very directed to young black men.
“That’s where the police need to look at themselves and figure out a new way to implement Stop and Search on our streets because, essentially, it’s just creating a lot of hate and a lot of mistrust between the community and the police.”
Read more: Police given extra powers for stop and search, Justice Secretary tells LBC
Read more: Naomi Osaka's treatment has been "disgusting" Jermaine Jenas tells LBC
Richard: Scrap Stop & Search To Tackle Police Racism
The football pundit later went on to explain how continuous stop and searches can 'criminalise' someone, negatively impacting their confidence as a result.
Jermaine was stopped over 10 times at the beginning of his football career, which he said "really affected" him.
He explained that the documentary was an "open book for people to form their own opinions as to how things are".
