Contents
This page contains press release 28/03, in which the MPA announces the Full Authority agenda.
Warning: This is archived material and may be out of date. The Metropolitan Police Authority has been replaced by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC).
See the MOPC website for further information.
Metropolitan Police Authority - April Full Authority meeting
28/03
23 April 2003
The Metropolitan Police Authority will meet on Thursday 24 April at 10.00am in Meeting Room 1 (ground floor), 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1. The meeting is open to members of the public and press.
The Authority will discuss the recently published inspection of the Metropolitan Police Service undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in September 2002. One of the most comprehensive inspections of the MPS to-date, HMIC considered that, overall, “the MPS continues to provide an efficient and effective service to the communities it serves”.
Members will discuss a report outlining the MPS’s use of Section 60 of the Criminal Justice Public Order Act 1994, designed to be used when there is specific, accurate intelligence to prevent violence and the widespread carrying of weapons in a geographically finite area.
Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, said:
“Section 60, when implemented, is in addition to normal powers of stop and search and does not replace them. It should not be used to replace or circumvent the normal powers for dealing with routine crime problems.
“New research, led by the criminologist Professor Benjamin Bowling of King’s College London, indicates a worrying disparity between the number of stop and searches experienced by ethnic minority communities and the white population, especially in London.
“The Authority wants assurance from the Met that the powers invoked by Section 60 are used appropriately and do not disproportionately target vulnerable communities to the detriment of community police relations, and will want to monitor the situation.”
The Commissioner, Sir John Stevens will give an update on operational policing issues in London and Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, Catherine Crawford, Clerk to the Authority and members will give updates on Authority matters.
Members will, in accordance with the Authority’s Standing Orders, hear a question from a member of the public and the Clerk will give the Authority’s response at the meeting.
Notes to editors
1. HMIC 2002/03 Inspection of the MPS is available from Home Office
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