Stopped and searched: Our crime correspondent’s story
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
David Woode was 16 when he was first stopped and searched by police. As a black man, he is six times more likely to be stopped than white counterparts, but his job reporting on knife crime and violence has made him see the other side of stop and search.
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Guest: David Woode, Crime Correspondent, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Clips: The News Agents, Parliament Live, ITN, BBC Newsnight.
Read more: I’ve been stopped and searched by the police since I was 16
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Date 9th of October 2003 mid afternoon location basing |
| 0:11.3 | stotetown, age 16. |
| 0:14.0 | A-level English class finished. |
| 0:17.0 | David walks through his Hampshire hometown. |
| 0:19.0 | But it stopped. |
| 0:21.0 | Suddenly someone grabs my arm. He tells me he's a police officer and flashes his |
| 0:25.3 | warrant card. Apparently a young woman has been kidnapped and I matched the description of |
| 0:29.5 | the suspect. Was this a prank or a new painfully regular surprise? |
| 0:37.0 | Date 7th of March 2006, early hours. |
| 0:40.0 | During that time, I'm stopped and questioned by the police on 3 separate occasions. |
| 0:44.0 | 24th of May, 2013. |
| 0:46.0 | Day. |
| 0:47.0 | Morning. Okay. |
| 0:48.0 | Okay. |
| 0:50.0 | June 2009. |
| 0:48.0 | After noon. |
| 0:50.0 | Day. |
| 0:51.0 | November 2006. |
| 0:52.0 | Late night. My body and bags are searched. |
| 0:54.8 | The embarrassment is suffocating. |
| 0:57.6 | In the 20 years since that first stop and surge, aged just 16, David Wood, the Times as Crime Correspondent, has been stopped by police |
| 1:05.7 | almost 30 times. He's never been arrested and has no criminal record. |
... |
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