Lynne Featherstone

Virtually the last session of the Stop & Search scrutiny on which I am the Vice Chair.

Today we had before us ex-Commander Brian Paddick (of Lambeth cannabis fame) and Delroy Lindo – a much stopped and searched individual from Haringey.

Brian Paddick is now promoted to (sorry I forget which rank – very senior), having been dragged away from Lambeth. I thought his evidence was some of the best I have heard out of the many scrutiny sessions I have sat through – listening to quite a lot of waffle in many of them. He cut through some of the crap and gave straight answers.

The most interesting in my view was that, in answer to my question about supervision on stop and search: had top brass in the Met ever supervised what he was doing as a local commander, e.g. by checking whether or not disproportionate numbers of ethnic minorities were being stopped? He said that no senior officer had ever rung him to ask him anything about it at all. Speaks volumes in my view.