Stop and search should not be targeted “equally” in London because 70 per cent of teenage homicide victims are black, a senior officer in the Metropolitan Police has said.

Commander Alex Murray, the Met’s lead on violent crime, said stop and search was an essential weapon for tackling youth violence and that the force is taking 400 knives off the streets every month.

The senior officer defended the use of stop and search, a tactic which has attracted strong criticism because it predominately targets young black men.

However, he argued it is used proportionately because the majority of London’s gun and knife crime victims are from the black community.

“We owe a commitment to them and their families to do something about it,” he told the Evening Standard. “The data shows that violence and murder are disproportionate and it would be wrong for us to use stop and search equally across London.”

His comments come as violence on London’s streets has reached record heights, with 23 teenagers being killed in the capital this year so far.