Letters From A Tory Daily views on British politics and the Conservative Party from a centre-right thinker who writes letters on his blog to politicians, journalists and many others.

Dear Tony McNulty,

As Police Minister you have found yourself in a tight spot this morning.  as the National Black Police Association calls for more stop and searches for ethnic minorities.

I’m sure your first instinct as a Labour minister is to pretend that you care about equality and try to appeal to voters by not looking as though you are cracking down on black people.  Let’s be honest, Labour are so desperate for votes that this will be hard to ignore – you wouldn’t want to lose the ethnic minority voters with the poll ratings so poor for you already.  But when a respected organisation that in the past has stood up for such groups apparently supports the police targetting them in a bid to lower crime levels, you don’t really have anywhere to turn because ignoring advice from key organisations within the police force would be foolish.

Personally, stop and search is fine with me.  If I’m walking around late at night in a notoriously bad area where crime rates are high, I don’t see how anyone can complain if the police want to see what they’re up to.  It doesn’t make a difference if you’re from an ethnic minority or not.  The shocking incidents of murders, especially of black males, in London particularly is a good enough reason to start being more proactive in keeping weapons off the streets.  I’m not saying everyone should become a suspect.  However, the police have a duty to protect the public and they cannot wait around for these problems to happen.

Yours sincerely,

A.Tory