Antipathy towards police reaching 'pre-riot levels'

Relations between the police and Asian youths have deteriorated to a state similar to that between officers and the black community at the time of the Brixton riots, a report published today warns.

Relations between the police and Asian youths have deteriorated to a state similar to that between officers and the black community at the time of the Brixton riots, a report published today warns.

The tension and anger is building among a new generation of Pakistani and Bangladeshi youths, according to a report into policing in London since the 1981 riots.

General levels of satisfaction with the police and confidence in Scotland Yard's ability to catch criminals and deal with victims has also fallen in the past 20 years, it notes. The study, which took the views of 5,500 adults, warns that new frictions are developing between police and groups within poorer Asian communities.

Criminologists from two universities compiled the 18-month study, Policing for London, to examine policing in the capital in the aftermath of the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. It also examined what changes had been made since the Brixton riots.

"The legacy of discrimination and over-policing continues to overshadow the Metropolitan Police Service's relations with black people and there is a danger of similar tensions arising with other groups," the report concludes. "Sections of the poorer Asian groups appear now to be expressing similar views about the police as the comparable generation of black young people 20 years earlier."

The proportion of black and Asian people stopped in London over the past five years has grown, despite a fall in the overall number of searches. All the groups questioned, however, support the use of stop and search when the police have reasonable suspicion that an offence is being committed.

The authors, Professor Marian FitzGerald, of the London School of Economics, and Professor Mike Hough, of South Bank University, say: "Unless steps are taken to improve relations with young people generally and to address the problem of the traditionally more adversarial policing styles in deprived, high-crime areas, little will change in the experience of many black people. Also, this experience will increasingly be replicated among the poorer Asian groups and growing number of refugees and asylum-seekers."

A worrying decline in the public's satisfaction with the police was also detected. The authors believe part of the reason for this is that the police waste a lot of time on narrow crime-fighting objectives set by the Government. They also argue that, partly because of a lack of resources, police increasingly ignore low-level crimes, such as anti-social behaviour, dumping rubbish on streets and graffiti, which have a big impact on how the public view quality of life.

* A survey of more than 1,100 children aged 11-15, published today shows almost all of them have been victims of crime. The research, by the Howard League for Penal Reform, shows 96 per cent of those interviewed said they had suffered from criminal activity.

Two-thirds said they had been hit or kicked, while 50 per cent had sufferedracist taunting by other children and having something stolen from them at school. The majority of those surveyed were from ethnic-minority groups.

Asked to put forward measures to prevent crime, they asked for more activities for teenagers and safe places to be established for them to "hang out" rather than having to congregate on street corners. The survey was compiled in eight mixed comprehensive schools around the country.