Police Federation Chair: We Need To Stop And Search Youths En Masse

9 March 2019, 15:08

The Chair of the Police Federation calls for his colleagues to be given further powers in order to tackle rising youth violence.

Ken Marsh described stop and search as a "very vital piece of equipment" that police use to combat knife crime.

Speaking to Matt Frei, he said: "The public have to understand if we are going to get on top of what is an endemic problem then we need to work together.

"My colleagues need the ability to just get out there and start stopping en masse, young youths, female and male and letting people realise they cannot walk around with knives with impunity.

"It is difficult but we do have targeted areas.

"We do have intelligence coming in all the time about what is taking place that I can't share on-air, but we do know what we're doing to a certain degree and we do have the ability to hit areas correctly, going in en masse, and really give a clear message to what is required."

Matt stated that police have "lost control of the streets".

Mr Marsh responded: "Absolutely not, no. I can't stand it when people say that.

"You've only got to look on a daily basis what policing is like in London and what we actually do. I'd be hard pushed to find member of the public that don't think a police officer would be there instantly if a serious crime happened."