I was invited to join a debate on LBC recently to talk about the use of Knife Arches at the Notting Hill Carnival. There could be nothing controversial about that, could there?

I have been through Knife Arches in the local railway station a number of times and of course, every time we get on a plane we are subject to intensive searches to ensure that the public are kept safe. If I want to fly, I have to be searched – end of story.

However the debate on Matt Frei’s show last Saturday was one which got me thinking. The use of various different tactics by the Police, particularly in London but elsewhere too, seems to me to need a public debate about the methods of policing and the sort of society in which we want to live.

The use of Knife Arches had been announced at about the same time as the Met had announced that they would not be using facial recognition technology at the Notting Hill Carnival because it was proving to be unreliable.

So there is a moving debate about what tactics are legitimate.

What is wrong with Knife Arches?

Nothing, except that there has to be a concern that their limited use at the Carnival would be based on some form of racial profiling. This has long been a concern in relation to the use of Stop and Search powers and it is not clear that the use of Knife Arches is going to be any less racial discriminatory.

It is not just a racial issue though. We are now all too aware of the way in which the Police have infiltrated protest groups and have operated undercover. This was dubious to say the least. As a result we currently have an inquiry into undercover policing.

We live in a country where we maintain that we have policing by consent. We do not have armed police officers walking the streets on a routine basis. We have controls in place about the use of Pava Sprays (formerly CS gas) and of Tasers.

Yet there is an ongoing row about whether or not police officers should use spit hoods. We seemingly have an increasing use of limb restraints; the use of handcuffs now seems to be routine in almost every arrest regardless of guidelines.

We need to have the debate about what sort of policing we want and it needs to be a debate characterised by more light than heat.

We want to live in a society where we are safe to walk the streets, where we can go to the carnival and have a great time. We want a police force who are empowered to tackle crime.

At the same time we want to be reassured that those who police do so without infringement of the civil liberties of any member of society regardless of race, colour, creed or sexual orientation.