BLUNKETT ACCUSED OF PR STUNT BY CRIME-HIT RESIDENTS

THE Home Secretary was accused yesterday of staging a "Public Relations
stunt" when he visited a crime-troubled area of Bristol to announce
controversial new guidelines for the use of police stop and search powers.

David Blunkett was heckled, jeered and sworn at by local residents, who
also shouted "hypocrite", as he arrived at the Easton Christian Family
Centre in the Easton district of Bristol, which suffers drug dealing,
prostitution and violent crime.

"He was greeted by the words Easton doesn't need another Home Office stunt"
on a nearby advertising hoarding.

A group of about 15 people shouted "This is just a PR stunt" as they
followed him on a 10-minute tour. The Home Secretary was escorted by about
a dozen police officers and led by his guide dog, Lucy.

A central part of Mr Blunkett's announcement was a new requirement that
police must record all encounters in which they stop and question someone -
a move to implement a contentious recommendation of the Macpherson report.

Currently, only stops which lead to searches are recorded. There were
around 700,000 stop-searches last year. But the number of stops is at least
seven times as high. Recording about five million "stop-only" encounters
would create a heavy new tier of bureaucracy for overstretched beat officers.

Miriam Henry, a resident of Easton, said: "We are living in a nightmare day
in, day out. If the Government is so committed to doing something then why
is it getting worse? It's just the same old empty promises.

"All these people will disappear tomorrow and things will be back to how
they always were."

Another resident, Simon Mitchell, said: "The police have known about the
crime situation and the drug dealing for years and they have chosen to do
nothing about it. They are containing the problem rather than dealing with it."

He [David Blunkett] thinks he can use our community as a political
football. He should be addressing the community, not dressing up some stage
managed PR stunt.

"The area has been designated one of five "Policing Priority Areas" in an
initiative by the Home Office's new Police Standards Unit, which is
designed to help and cajole police forces into improving the fight against
crime.

In addition to announcing the PPAs, Mr Blunkett said: "As part of our
modernisation programme we have been reviewing the use of stop and search
powers to increase public confidence in their use and provide police with
the necessary tools to do their job."

Used in a targeted, intelligence-led way, stop and search can be
particularly effective against street robbery, gun crime and drug dealing.

"The Standards Unit will work with local forces to identify problems in
each area and is expected to draw up its action plans within a month.

The four other zones are Camberwell Green in south London; Stoke-on-Trent's
Grange Estate; Little Horton and Canterbury in Bradford; and the West Ward
in Rhyl, North Wales.

Creation of the zones is the first time that the Home Office - in the shape
of the new Standards Unit - has intervened so directly in local policing.

The unit is led by a former private sector executive and ex-police officer,
Kevin Bond, on a salary higher than the Prime Minister's.

Tony Locke, the chairman of the Easton Tenants' and Residents' Association,
who was one of those invited to meet the Home Secretary, welcomed the
designation of Easton as a PPA, but said that he would wait to see whether
it made any actual difference to the level of crime in the district.

"I know how difficult it is getting anything done, but hopefully we will
see some benefit," said Mr Locke. "It comes down to money at the end of the
day. We need more police on the beat to deter the drug dealers and the kerb
crawlers."

Brenda Hugill, the mayor of Bristol, said: "I think that he [the Home
Secretary] is determined to make a difference."

He showed great concern about the problems we have here. Most people here
are hard-working, decent people but they are very concerned about crime
levels and they need some help.

"Insp Jeanette Harris, of Avon and Somerset Police, who works in the Easton
area, said that she was more optimistic following the meeting with the Home
Secretary. However she called for more resources to help the force to
tackle crime.

"The crime problem here is 25 to 30 years old, but it has certainly
increased in the past 18 months," she said. "What I am looking for is more
resources - not just for the police, but to help the community partnerships."