A lot of work has already been done in this respect by the police since the publication of the Stephen Lawrence report. I know from my contacts with the police that they resent it when politicians use their work, their successes or their failings, as a political football. While there is what some have called a crisis of morale in the Metropolitan Police and in some other police forces, it is wrong and damaging to use the Lawrence report and the work of dealing with discrimination as a whipping boy for this crisis. Pay and other matters are at the heart of this problem. To claim that a decline in stop and search in London has led to an increase in crime flies in the face of evidence from other forces where stop and search has gone up but so has crime.
Evidence continues to show that stop and search has been used in ways which are discriminatory.
However, this is not the way to achieve such a debate. Unfortunately, Mr Hague's present approach is in danger of encouraging complacency on the part of those who need to change and deep resentment on the part of those who continue to experience discriminatory practices.