The Home Secretary has said she supports the use of controversial stop-and-search checks to tackle acid attacks and knife crimes.

Writing in The Times, Amber Rudd said the powers had been abused in the past and should now only be used "appropriately, with reasonable grounds and in a targeted and intelligence-led way".

A Sky poll showed a majority of those interviewed also backed the tactic, with 64% in favour of giving more power to police.

Another 21% said the police should have the same power they do now, and only 9% favoured fewer powers, and 6% said they didn't know.

Image: The Sky poll was conducted on 9 August

Stop-and-search checks - a controversial tactic that critics say risks alienating black and other minorities by targeting them disproportionately - were overhauled three years ago by Theresa May, then home secretary.


Under the reform, Mrs May allowed officers to stop and search people if they had "reasonable grounds" to suspect they are carrying items such as drugs, a weapon, stolen property or something which could be used to commit a crime.

The use of the powers decreased in 2015/16, with fewer than 400,000 checks conducted by police in England and Wales.

Image: Amber Rudd opposes indiscriminate search powers

Ms Rudd welcomed the reform, rejecting the notion of a return to less targeted checks, but backed officers who used the tactic appropriately.

She said: "I want to be crystal clear - we have given the police the powers they need and officers who use stop and search appropriately, with reasonable grounds and in a targeted and intelligence-led way, will always have my full support."

"This includes using stop and search to confront the use of acid as an appalling weapon of violence," she added, calling it a "vital tool to keep the public safe".

London mayor on stop and search and acid attacks

Amid a spike in acid attacks in London, Ms Rudd signalled recently that convictions for such crimes could soon carry life sentences.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he supported stop and search as long as it was "intelligence-led" and not indiscriminate.

Labour's shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, also said her party backed "evidence-based stop and search" - though not what she called "a return to the bad old days of discriminatory stops that focus on particular communities".

However, Ms Abbott said new powers would not make up for the cuts in police forces overseen by the Tories, and said a Labour government would "recruit 10,000 extra police officers to help tackle violent crime and keep the public and our communities safe".

How should you help an acid attack victim?

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick wrote in the Times that the ability for officers to use stop and search was "an extremely important power when properly used".

She said she wanted officers to "feel confident" using the power and stressed every check should be "lawful, done courteously and subject to proper scrutiny".

She said: "I will support my officers if the number of stop and searches rises in the fight against knife crime and street violence. I believe the vast majority of the public will too."

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,033 Sky customers interviewed by SMS 9 August 2017. Data are weighted to the profile of the population.

For full Sky Data tables, please click here.