Moment woman 'carrying machete' is arrested by taser-wielding police officers on north London residential street

16 May 2024, 08:54

Police have been seen arresting a woman holding a machete, in a dramatic scene in north London.

Three officers holding tasers at the woman shout at her to get onto the ground and put her arms out to the side.

She appears not to understand for some time, as the police officers continue to shout at her.

Officers said they were called out to Cadoxton Avenue, in Tottenham, at 8.53pm on Wednesday (May 15) to reports of a woman with a knife.

They added that they attended and arrested a woman on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

Sharing the video, Tottenham Conservatives said on Twitter: "The violence on our streets is becoming relentless. It must be stopped & can be stopped."

It comes amid a debate about the prevalence of knives in London, after several high-profile attacks, including the murder of a boy in Hainault, north-east London by a rampaging man with a sword.

And on Wednesday, policing minister Chris Philp urged officers to increase their use of stop and search, insisting the tactic is a "vital tool" and not discriminatory.

Mr Philp, the MP for Croydon in south London, said the controversial policing practice is not being used enough to combat knife crime.

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari speaks to Crime and Policing Minister Chris Philp |15/05

He told LBC's Nick Ferrari: "I'd like to see officers of course use the power lawfully and also respectfully, but it does need to be, I think, used more to protect the public and particularly the kind of young men who often end up being victims of knife crime."

Asked about the communities who could be disproportionately affected by stop and search, he said: "The sad truth is that young black men are disproportionately victims of knife crime and we're doing this as much to protect them as anything else."

He said the success rate of stop and searches are typically 25% to 30%.

"That percentage is pretty much the same across something to within 1% across all ethnicities so that gives me quite a high degree of confidence that police are not unreasonably picking on particular parts of the community," he said.