Max 60 seconds use. Must courtesy 'BBC Breakfast'. No pre-roll ads.Policing minister Chris Philp has encouraged officers to be "more confident" with deploying stop-and-search powers.He said the Government will be "significantly stepping up" hotspot patrols in areas where there is a high risk of knife crime."I also want the police to be much more confident in using stop-and-search powers to stop people on the street when they're suspected of carrying knives or drugs and performing a search," he t

Max 60 seconds use. Must courtesy 'BBC Breakfast'. No pre-roll ads.Policing minister Chris Philp has encouraged officers to be "more confident" with deploying stop-and-search powers.He said the Government will be "significantly stepping up" hotspot patrols in areas where there is a high risk of knife crime."I also want the police to be much more confident in using stop-and-search powers to stop people on the street when they're suspected of carrying knives or drugs and performing a search," he told BBC Breakfast.It was put to him that Government interventions have not been working, with 2022 seeing 280 murders involving knives and 100 of the victims being young people."More does need to done. That's why from April we're going to be really stepping up these hotspot patrols," he said."It's not true to say that nothing's been done. We've taken 120,000 knives off the streets over the last four years, including through the use of stop and search."