A police watchdog panned watered-down Tory pledges to reduce racist policing as “tinkering around the edges.”

Home Secretary Theresa May told MPs yesterday she would rewrite the government’s voluntary code for chief police officers in response to public anger at the frequent stopping and searching of black and minority ethnic (BME) people.

Official figures show that BME people are six times more likely to be frisked than white people.

And more than a quarter of searches reviewed by investigators did not stem from reasonable grounds for suspicion, meaning 250,000 searches conducted last year could have been illegal.

Ms May said stop-and-search was “undoubtedly an important police power” but had been “misused.”

She said: “The revised code will emphasise that where officers are not using their powers properly they will be subject to formal performance or disciplinary proceedings.

“I have told them that if they do not do so, the government will bring forward legislation to make this a statutory requirement.”

And police colleges would review their training, she said.

But Kevin Blowe of the Newham Monitoring Project said Ms May’s proposals didn’t acknowledge that stop and search was “fundamentally a blunt instrument.

“It may have some impact but it doesn’t really get to the heart of the problem, which is that stop-and-search practices are so open to abuse.

“This all smacks of tinkering around the edges.

“We’ve talked about training since the Lawrence inquiry — it hasn’t made a difference. The issue is that (racist police officers) think they can get away with it.”