FIVE CRIME HOT-SPOTS ARE NAMED BY BLUNKETT

The Home Secretary was heckled and abused yesterday when he tried to
highlight government crime policies in an inner-city neighbourhood troubled
by drug-dealing and prostitution.

David Blunkett was accused of engaging in a "publicity stunt" and making
"empty promises" as he toured the Stapleton Road area of Bristol, among five
districts identified by the Government as crime hot-spots.

Mr Blunkett was escorted on his 10-minute walkabout by about a dozen police
officers and led by his guide dog, Lucy. The hostile reception by residents
followed widespread criticism yesterday of the Home Secretary's plans to
improve the system of police stop- and-search.

Police leaders claimed Mr Blunkett's plans to give officers machines to
issue paper records to people who were stopped would further burden the
system with bureaucracy.

Marion Fitzgerald, of the London School of Economics, a former Home Office
guru on stop-and-search, said the idea made "no sense whatsoever".

The Home Office issued figures showing that the disproportionate use of
stop-and-search on black people had increased last year, from five times to
seven times more likely than on white people. The National Black Police
Association said it was concerned that the system was being abused by police
stereotypes of black people and criminality.

Figures showed stop-and-search of black people had risen by 4 per cent in
the year to last April, but stops of white people fell by 18.5 per cent. The
statistics appear to disprove police claims that officers were afraid to
stop black people for fear of being branded racist.

Home Office figures recorded that last year police in England and Wales
stopped and searched 853,188 people. Some officers believe 10 times as many
people are stopped, which would mean 8.5 million new bits of paperwork.

In Bristol yesterday, Mr Blunkett named five communities with high crime
levels which are to become the first policing priority areas. In the first
initiative led by the Home Office's police standards unit, plans will be
drawn up to tackle problems with crime and anti-social behaviour that
officers have so far been unable to crack.

The five areas are Camberwell Green in Southwark, south-London; Stapleton
Road, in Easton, Bristol; the Grange Estate in Stoke-on-Trent; Little Horton
and Canterbury in Bradford; the West Ward in Rhyl, Clwyd.

Mr Blunkett was heckled by a group of local residents as he arrived at the
Easton Christian family centre in Bristol to announce details of new
anti-crime measures.

Miriam Henry, a resident of the troubled Easton district, where drug
dealing, prostitution and crime are rife, 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."

Simon Mitchell, another resident, 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 words "Easton doesn't need another Home Office stunt" had been plastered
on a nearby advertising hoarding.

But Tony Locke, chairman of the Eastville Tenants and Residents'
Association, who was among those invited to meet the Home Secretary, said he
was encouraged by what Mr Blunkett had to say.

"Mr Blunkett came across very positively and I think he is sincere when he
says he wants to help," Mr Locke said. "I know how difficult it is getting
anything done."