James O'Brien's One-Rule Solution To Stop And Search Problems

28 August 2018, 10:56

The LBC presenter came up with a potential solution to end controversy surrounding stop and search once and for all.

James O'Brien insisted that Ian Duncan Smith's 148-page report, which advised an increased implementation of police stop and search to combat the rise in drug dealing and gang violence in London, wouldn't be effective.

Instead, he offered an alternative option to actually solve the problem: stop the customers of the gangs.

James argued: "What we need to do is routinely and robustly stopping and searching everyone under the age of 30 - especially wealthy looking white people, all over the South East, because that's the way you're going to find out who has the drugs."

He continued: "If they live their lives in daily fear of being found in possession of drugs, they're going to stop buying drugs. And if they stop buying drugs, the gangs lose their customers and the criminality diminishes."

The report published by the Centre for Social Justice, said that the number of stop and searches in London has fallen "significantly" in the last decade, from around 600,000 a year in 2010/11 to around 125,000 in 2017/18.