- Damaging police-community relations: Creating mistrust and reducing cooperation with police.
- Diverting resources: Officers spend time conducting low-value searches instead of investigating serious crimes.
- Escalating minor incidents: Stops for minor issues (e.g., cannabis possession) can escalate to arrests and criminal records, pushing young people into criminality.
The College of Policing reviewed the evidence and concluded that targeted, intelligence-led stop and search is more effective than high-volume, blanket use.
3. The 'Success Rate' Metric Is Misleading
The 17% 'success rate' (searches that result in arrest or finding of weapons/drugs) is often cited as evidence that stop and search works. However:
- 83% find nothing: The vast majority of searches are of innocent people, which is a significant intrusion on civil liberties.
- Arrests are not convictions: Many arrests do not lead to charges or convictions, meaning the person was innocent.
- Minor offences: Many 'successful' searches find small amounts of cannabis, which is a low-priority offence and does not justify the intrusion.
What Needs to Change
Campaigners and criminal justice experts have called for:
1. Abolish or Severely Restrict Section 60
Section 60 has very low success rates (8%) and is disproportionately used against Black people. Options include:
- Abolish Section 60 entirely: Some campaigners argue it is ineffective and discriminatory and should be scrapped.
- Raise the threshold: Require stronger evidence of imminent violence before authorising Section 60.
- Limit duration and area: Restrict Section 60 to smaller areas and shorter time periods.
2. Improve Accountability and Recording
All stop and searches should be properly recorded and justified:
- Body-worn cameras: All searches should be recorded on body-worn cameras, with footage reviewed to ensure compliance with legal standards.
- Better recording: Officers should record specific, objective reasons for searches, not vague terms like "acting suspiciously."
- Independent scrutiny: Community groups should have access to stop and search data and the power to hold police to account.
3. Reduce Disproportionality
Police forces should set targets to reduce racial disparity in stop and search:
- Monitor and publish data: Forces should publish stop and search data by ethnicity and explain any disparity.
- Unconscious bias training: All officers should receive training on unconscious bias and how to avoid discriminatory stops.
- Community scrutiny panels: Community members should be involved in reviewing stop and search practices and holding officers to account.
4. Focus on Intelligence-Led, Targeted Stops
Stop and search should be targeted at high-risk individuals and locations, based on specific intelligence, rather than used as a blanket tactic.
5. Invest in Alternatives
Rather than relying on stop and search, invest in:
- Youth services: Providing positive activities and support for young people to reduce involvement in crime.
- Violence reduction programmes: Addressing the root causes of violence through education, mentoring, and community engagement.
- Community policing: Building trust and cooperation between police and communities.
The Bottom Line
Black people in England and Wales are 8.4 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, despite stop and search finding weapons or drugs in only 17% of cases. Section 60 searches, which do not require reasonable suspicion, have increased by 140% since 2018 and have even lower success rates of 8%. Young Black men in London are stopped an average of 3 times per year, creating mistrust and damaging police-community relations. The disparity is driven by police deployment patterns, unconscious bias, gang matrices, and disproportionate use of Section 60 in Black communities. The Macpherson Report warned that disproportionate stop and search undermines public confidence, but the disparity has worsened. Campaigners call for abolishing or restricting Section 60, improving accountability, reducing disproportionality, and investing in alternatives like youth services and violence reduction programmes.
Key takeaways
- Police conducted 626,000 stop and searches in 2024, with Black people 8.4 times more likely to be stopped than white people
- Only 17% of stop and searches result in arrest or finding of weapons/drugs, meaning 83% find nothing
- Section 60 searches (no reasonable suspicion required) have increased by 140% since 2018, with even lower success rates
- Young Black men in London are stopped an average of 3 times per year, creating mistrust and damaging police-community relations
- The Macpherson Report (1999) warned that disproportionate stop and search undermines public confidence, but disparity has worsened
Sources
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