Stop and search powers increased

[14th May 2008]

Police will be using more stop and search powers in London in a bid to tackle knife crime, after the two fatal stabbings within 48 hours this week.

Officers will be operating under section 60 of the Public Order Act, which allows police to search people without reasonable suspicion. The first team of 15 officers are being deployed in an unnamed London borough.

The move comes after the fatal stabbing of 22-year old Steven Bigby outside a Mcdonalad's on Oxford Street and the murder of 16-year old Jimmy Mizen in a bakery in South-East London.

Figures reveal that 68 people under the age of 25 have been killed in London since the beginning of last year. Thirteen of these people were teenagers, nine of whom were stabbed.

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