‘No racial profiling’ says Blears

Police should not use ‘racial profiling’ during anti-terror investigations, Home Office Minister Hazel Blears has warned.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with senior Muslim leaders today, Ms Blears said that police should only use stop-and-search powers based on intelligence and not by targeting specific racial groups.

The Home Office Minister also said that police needed to explain to communities how the powers were used.

There had been fears amongst the UK’s Muslim community that Muslims were being specifically targeted for police searches following last month’s bomb attacks in London.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme, Ms Blears said that she did not endorse the use of racial profiling and said that stop-and-search powers should not be used in a “discriminatory fashion”. She said: “Picking up people on the basis that they are Muslim is never going to get the result you want.”

Ms Blears met with Muslim community leaders in Oldham on Tuesday, in the first of a series of eight meetings planned at improving relations and rooting out extremists, in the wake of last month’s bomb attacks and attempted attacks on the capital’s transport network.

The meetings will discuss a number of issues, including security, engaging with young people and women and tackling extremism and radicalisation.

Ms Blears wrote to MPS before the meetings to set out the issues identified in the recent cross-party terror talks hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

The letter said: “Muslim leaders recognise that it is not enough just to condemn the bombings but that they must also act with us to tackle extremism. The government and leaders of all parties in turn recognised that it is our shared responsibility to work in partnership with the Muslim community to achieve this.”

Mr Clarke is due to hold follow-up talks with Muslim leaders on September 20 to outline proposals.

(KMcA/SP)