Ask the Expert: Calming tensions with the police

Tensions have risen between local young people and the police, particularly around the use of “stop and search”. How can we resolve the situation?

The rise in tension is likely to be due to a mix of factors so some careful analysis will be needed. Exactly where, when, and who was involved in the incidents must be understood. So ask the police and young people to give you their views.

The issue will need careful handling at strategic as well as frontline level. Engage your local senior police officer, children’s services director and chief executive in a discussion to look at the facts and consider some joint actions, and if possible, arrange for them to hear the young people’s views.

Try and bring together – with a facilitator – young people who were stopped recently and the officers who stopped them. Set up a safe and structured discussion as to what happened, why, what it felt like, and how things might have been better addressed. Some powerful emotions will be released, but this can help improve policing practice and understanding among young people.

Answered by Paul Clark, director of the Potential Organisation. He was director of children’s services in Harrow for seven years