Leigh McKenna is a Bristol youth worker who has seen firsthand the impact a controversial ‘suspicionless’ police stop-and-search operation had on Black and brown children and young people when it was carried out in February.
During the operation in central and east Bristol, carried out after 16-year-old Darrian Williams was stabbed in Easton, officers searched kids as young as 10 – and Avon and Somerset Police’s own data shows officers disproportionately targeted people of colour.
In this video, McKenna and others speak to the Cable about the damaging impact of the operation, enabled by Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, and explain why it was not just racist, but ineffective.
This short video is part of the Cable’s campaign aimed at stopping Avon and Somerset Police from using Section 60 powers.
Read our reporter Sean Morrison’s in-depth story exposing the harmful and traumatic impact of suspicionless searches in Bristol, sign the petition, and write to your MP to say no to Section 60 here.
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Investigative journalism strengthens democracy – it’s a necessity, not a luxury.
The Cable is Bristol’s independent, investigative newsroom. Owned and steered by more than 2,600 members, we produce award-winning journalism that digs deep into what’s happening in Bristol.
We are on a mission to become sustainable – will you help us get there?
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Racist and traumatising: inside a Section 60 suspicionless stop and search operation
Officers searched innocent children, disproportionately targeted people of colour and undermined their anti-racism reforms during a 48-hour police operation in February. Their narrative that it was an effective knife-crime deterrent, done with consent, is misleading.
