But he stressed that he was confident that the force was "going in the right direction." The latest figures showed that people belonging to visible ethnic minorities were still more likely to be stopped and searched in 1999, but the figures were down in general on 1998. Police officers were better briefed as to what their powers were to stop and search, while more and more of these searches were intelligence led, said Mr Blair. He added that officers only conduct searches where reasonable grounds exist to suspect the possession of prohibited articles. But Moira Payne wondered whether officers desisted from stop and searches for fear of being accused of prejudice. Overall the numerical figures for white, black and Asian people searched and arrested as a result of stop and search for the months April to October 1999 were down on the corresponding figures for 1998.

But the results equate to 5.3 searches for every 1,000 white Surrey residents in 1999 (1998 7.3), and 16.0 searches for every 1,000 ethnic Surrey residents (1998, 25.5). It should be noted that searches of people from outside the area, coupled with the force's low ethnic minority population skew the ratios and therefore account partly, but not wholly, for the difference in search rates, warned Mr Blair. It was unlikely that parity between "white" and "ethnic" searches would be achieved, partly because many visible ethnic people stopped and searched were not resident in Surrey, such as asylum seekers. The figures for ethnic searches and arrests showed that while the nominal figures for Asians was higher than black people, percentage wise more black people were searched and arrested as a result of these searches. There was also an increase of recorded "hate" crimes, from 74 between April and November 1998 to 253 in the same period last year. The expected increase of these crimes was the result of ethnic minority communities gaining more trust and confidence in Surrey Police, according to Mr Blair.