But when Stephen Lawrence's father, Neville, and John Sentamu, the bishop of Stepney and the only black adviser on the Macpherson inquiry team, were both stopped by police, it seemed little had changed. Ms FitzGerald's study also appeared to offer the Met further support. She said there was a link between the fall in searches and the rise in crime. But her conclusions were discredited by Jeremy Penzer, a London School of Economics statistician, who had analysed the figures for her. In his first interview as the new Met commissioner, Sir John Stevens said all officers would be given training to ensure stop and searches are conducted politely.
New evidence shows the drop in stop and searches in London seems to be levelling off.