BRENT students who say they are regularly stopped by the police and detained for up to three hours a time are trying to introduce a smartphone app to tackle the problem.
Young people from the Chalkhill Estate met with police and MP for Brent North Barry Gardiner after saying they feel victimised by routine stop and searches.
The meeting, which was held at Brent Town Hall on october 5, attracted more than 50 young people and was also attended by Borough Commander Matthew Gardner. It was suggested that a smartphone app could be created to log stop and searches and rate how well those searched felt they were treated.
Chalkhill residents' association committee member Mohamed Elmi, 25, said he is stopped on a regular basis. The junior consultant for a medical law firm and graduate said: "I am stopped two or three times a day and it's always a fictional reason, even though the law says they have to have reasonable suspicion, and the level of treatment is always disgraceful."
A survey of 80 people from the Chalk Farm Estate was carried out, which showed that people from Brent aged from 18 to 25 claim there is not enough respect and mutual understanding between officers who stop and question black people of university age across the borough.
According to MET police stop and search figures and 2001 census data many more members of the black population are stopped in Brent, as there were 21 stops per 1000 in contrast to five for the white population and seven for every 1000 members of the asian population in July 2011. In the past year there have been 32,000 stop and searches in Brent, and despite these concerns only 10 of these have resulted in an official complaint.
After the meeting MP Mr Gardiner said: "It was a really interesting meeting and focused on greivances the young people have with the police. Especially their anger at the way they are habitually stopped and searched and the way they are not treated with respect when they are. Every one of them was a student or a graduate, and say they will be on their way to a lecture and made 45 minutes late."
Group members will now keep a log for a month of how many times they are stopped and for how long, which will lead to discussions with the police and the borough commander Matthew Gardner after this information has been collected.
Brent Borough Commander Matthew Gardner made it clear that the app was a suggestion at present, but a meeting would go ahead soon to develop the idea.
He said: “The youths gave some excellent suggestions that I am very keen to work with them on. I will meet with Barry Gardner and a youth rep in the next few weeks to discuss options.”
