The Reasonable Suspicion Element of PACE Stop and Search Police Powers in the UK

This report discusses the PACE and its provisions, the reasonable suspicion element, section 60 and its impact on BAME communities, racial discrimination and factors affecting it, and supporting statistics. It concludes that while reasonable suspicion is a good initiative, its implementation needs to be monitored more strictly to prevent racial discrimination.

The Reasonable Suspicion Element of PACE
Stop and Search Police Powers in the UK

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to PACE and its provisions...............................................................................3
Reasonable suspicion.............................................................................................................4
Section 60 and its impact on BAME communities................................................................5
Racial discrimination and PACE 1984..................................................................................5
Factors affecting racial discrimination...................................................................................6
Supporting statistics...............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References..................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
PACE stands for Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the codes of practice
which accompany the law. This law aims at establishing the powers of the police department
of the UK and keeping the rights of the common public protected at the same time. It
maintains a balance between the two. The codes of practice included under PACE are stop
and search, detention, arrest, identification, investigation and interviewing the detainees1. The
Code A of PACE allows the police of the UK to stop and search a vehicle or a person without
making an arrest initially. The report will discuss the PACE in detail and its significance for
the police department as well the common public of the UK. The main question which will be
answered in this section of report is “whether the reasonable suspicion element of PACE Stop
and search police powers in the UK”. More specifically, the Code A of PACE, related to stop
and search will be discussed in detail in this report and it will be checked whether this law is
practically applicable for all or some sections of the society have special or no privileges
regarding the same. It will also discuss whether the blacks and whites are equally treated
while the implementation of this law. This report will support the claim that the BAME
citizens are most likely stopped by police on behalf of suspicion than the white counterparts.
One of the main reasons for this issue is Section 60 which allows the police department of the
country to stop and search people belonging to any community without any suspicion.
Discussion
Introduction to PACE and its provisions
As mentioned above, PACE allows the police constable of UK to stop and search any of the
citizens of UK if they find them suspicious for the following incidences or activities:
1 Crown, 'Police And Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Codes Of Practice' (GOV.UK, 2018)
<https://www.gov.uk/guidance/police-and-criminal-evidence-act-1984-pace-codes-of-practice#overview>
accessed 6 December 2018.

 Possessing a pointed article or blade or threatening someone using these articles.
 Possessing prohibited or stolen articles
 Possessing certain prohibited fireworks
This law allows the police officers to detain and search any person for the purpose of search
on the basis of suspicion in any public place. However, the time period for which a person is
detained is based on the quality of evidences for suspicion and they are asked to keep the
time period to minimum.2
Reasonable suspicion
This right can be exercised by the police officers based on a few evidences which support the
act of suspicion. Under section 1 (2) of this act, the police constables need to possess
reasonable grounds in order to suspect any individual and this requirement for the police
officers is known as the “Reasonable suspicion” and can be found under section 1 (3). This
section shows that the police needs to have a reason or justification for the stop and search
operation and thus, it safeguards the rights of the individuals and the misuse of the power by
the police officers. This clause was added in the PACE in 1984 and before it, this act was
practi8ced under the Philips Commission 1981.3
In my opinion, stopping and searching people based on reasonable suspicion is not a problem
as it is the duty of the police officers to enquire whether these people are not bearing any of
the above mentioned suspicious elements and are not here to harm the people. But the main
question arises whether this act is practiced on the way it is expected to be or the people of
UK face can sort of discrimination while this act is being practiced. It is also a question
2 Crown, 'Revised Code Of Practice For The Exercise By: Police Officers Of Statutory Powers Of Stop And
Search' (Crown 2018).
3 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 'Codes Of Practice – Code A Exercise By Police Officers Of Statutory Powers
Of Stop And Search' (Govuk 2018) <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/384108/2013PACEcodeA.pdf> accessed 6 December 2018.

whether all the communities are traced equally or are there a few communities which are
stopped and searched more than the others.4
Section 60 and its impact on BAME communities
There have been evidences that a few communities face the problems much more than the
others. The section 60 allows the police constables to stop and search the individuals with no
reasonable suspicion under certain circumstances. A few of such circumstances include
stopping the individuals in the areas of violence or carrying dangerous weapons and
instruments. This section however, presents a loop hole in the indiscriminate and equal
practicing of this law. It creates the scope of misuse of power done by the police officers of
the UK. Thus, these powers were used in the past and the use of section 60 has been reduced
to minimum now5. The PACE is used today where the police officers have to present a
justified reason for stopping and searching any person. The reasonable suspicion criterion has
presented the officers with the liability to stop the individuals with valid grounds for the act.
The Code A of the PACE presents the provision for reasonable suspicion, under which the
officer first needs to have a genuine suspicion that they will find some suspicious possession
with the individuals, and second, the object which is found by the officers is reasonable. This
means that the officers need to explain the reason for suspicion in terms of information and
intelligence. They cannot stop and search any individual based on their physical appearance
or stereotypical images of a community.6
1 8Racial discrimination and PACE 9 4
There have been certain claims which say that the implementation of this law is not equal and
the black communities are more frequently stopped and searched in comparison to white
communities. If this is so, it is totally incorrect and illegal and the section 60 still persists
4 Ben Bowling and Coretta Phillips, 'Disproportionate And Discriminatory: Reviewing The Evidence On Police
Stop And Search' (2007) 70 Modern Law Review.
5 Rebekah; Shiner Delsol, Stop And Search: The Anatomy Of A Police Power (Palgrave Macmillan 2015).
6 Stephen Jones, 'The Police And Criminal Evidence Act 1984' (1985) 48 The Modern Law Review.

which allows the police officers to arrest the individuals with no suspicion. This act of the
UK police has been heavily criticised by the Campaign Groups all across the world. Racial
discrimination has been a long running problem associated with the implementation of this
act. BAME citizens are more likely to be stopped and searched in comparison to the white
counterparts7. This claim has also been supported by Sharp and Atherton as well in their
study in 2007. The black people and the minority groups are more frequently stopped and
searched by the police officers in UK. Due to these reasons, these minority groups and lost
their trust from police and mistrust the authority. Thus, there need to be some efforts put by
the government and the department to establish cordial relations with these communities.8
Factors affecting racial discrimination
There are certain factors which lead to the above mentioned inequality. The first factor is the
direct racial discrimination. A few racist police officers target the BAME communities and
the other minority groups and stop them unnecessary. This can be a result of the widespread
racial discrimination which was practiced in UK years before but now these practices have
reduced or even eliminated. Still, a few traces of this opinion can be found in the police
department of the nation9. This has also been mentioned in the Panorama Documentary which
also mentions the racist mentality of the police officers in the UK and how they target the
BAME communities more than others. The second factor is the institutional and implicit
racial discrimination which highlights the working assumption of the UK police officers
about criminality. This can arise due to importer interpretation of the knowledge and
experience gained by the police officers during his years of policing. The third factor is the
poor relations between the BAME Communities and the police which have been developed
due to excessive stopping of the people belonging to the BAME communities by the police
7 E. Johnston and T. Smith, Criminal Procedure And Punishment (Hall and Stott 2018).
8 D. Sharp and S. Atherton, 'To Serve And Protect?: The Experiences Of Policing In The Community Of Young
People From Black And Other Ethnic Minority Groups' (2007) 47 British Journal of Criminology.
9 John Knowles, Nicola Persico and Petra Todd, 'Racial Bias In Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory And Evidence'
(2001) 109 Journal of Political Economy.

officers in the past years and these communities consider themselves to be highly targeted.
This has led to distrust and frustration of these communities in regard to the police officers of
the country. However the police communities have a reason for doing so. They say that most
of the groups related to drug trafficking and such crimes employee black citizens the most
and thus, if they stop people belonging to this community, they are justified in doing so as
they are doing it for protecting the people of their country10. These factors have also been
mentioned by Harris in his study in 1994. He also stated in his study due to racial
discrimination, there rev a number of people are stopped and searched and this hurts their
sentiments.11
One of the other major factors for this problem is the poverty and marginalization. The
BAME communities are most often struck by poverty and marginalization in UK. This has
led to the development of the criminal behaviour in these communities and thus, the police
also targets these communities the most as they suspect them of being the part of a crime. The
reputation of the BAME communities is very high in terms of criminality.12
Supporting statistics
There are a number of news articles which claim that the black and Asian people are targeted
during the implementation of the PACE Act. According to the statistics, in the year
2016/2017, out of 1000 cases for stop and search in UK, 4 people were found to be White and
29 people were found to be black. It confirms the claims which have been made regarding
disproportionate use of the reasonable suspicion criterion of PACE 1984. The likelihood of
Black people for being stopped and searched was 8 times in comparison to the white people,
which was just 4 times. The similar information has been published on a news article of BBC
News which states that the probability of a black being stopped and arrested is 29 times more
10 BBC News, 'Stop And Search 'Disproportionate' (BBC News, 2013) <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24902389>
accessed 6 December 2018.
11 David A. Harris, Factors For Reasonable Suspicion: When Black And Poor Means Stopped And
Frisked (William S Hein and Co 1994).
12 Lucinda Platt, Poverty And Ethnicity In The UK (Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2007).

than that of a white, which is highly disproportionate13. In the Panoramic video of 2000, the
policeman pointed the same thing when he said that the some innocent and black Asia have to
face the legislations a d are stopped and searched without any reasonable claim. Thus is due
to the racial discrimination which is prevalent in the UK place department for years.
However, most of the cases of stop and search are justified but a few of them are backed by
the racial discrimination.
All the evidences suggested above, clear the picture that the “reasonable suspicion phrase” is
developed to ensure that the police does not abuse their powers and present reasonable
evidences to justify any act of stop and search. But racial discrimination is still prevalent in
the UK police department and that is why the police officers target the BAME communities
more than the others. This shows that the PACE 1984 is not practiced in an expected way and
innocent people have to suffer as a result of this. The minority communities of blacks and
Asians are constantly targeted and stereotyped due to the acts done by a very small section of
people of their communities14. This is the violation of the rights of the citizens of UK and this
issue needs to be fixed as early as possible. The police officers must be trained for this and
must be told that every person belonging to a typical community is not a criminal. The police
department must ensure that the people trust them and the rights of the people living in the
community must be protected. More campaigns such as BUSS must be introduced which may
help people in understanding the importance of stop and search. Also, the police officers who
are found guilty of such an act must be punished considerable as violation of fundamental
rights of people of a nation is, itself, a criminal offence. Thus, it can be said that reasonable
suspicion element is a good initiative of UK government but its implementation needs to be
monitored more strictly.15
13 Home Office, 'Stop And Search' (Ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk, 2018) <https://www.ethnicity-facts-
figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest> accessed 6 December 2018.
14 Rebekah Delsol and Michael Shiner, 'Regulating Stop And Search: A Challenge For Police And Community
Relations In England And Wales' (2006) 14 Critical Criminology.
15 Katy Radford, Jennifer Betts and Malcolm Ostermeyer, Policing, Accountability And The Black And Minority
Ethnic Communities In Northern Ireland (Institute for Conflict Research 2006).

Conclusion
The above essay is aimed at determining whether the reasonable suspicion element of PACE
Stop and Search Act is equal for all or not. The study conducted during the course of essay
shows that the racial discrimination persists in the police department of UK and the people
belonging to BAMRE communities are more often targeted by the police officers of the
nation. The major factors relating to it is more involvement of the black communities in drug
trafficking and other such crimes. Keeping this in mind, the police officers have stereotyped
these communities as the criminal communities and they stop and search them quite often
without any suspicion as well. Thus, there need to be some specific guidelines developed
which can monitor the relevant and accurate implementation of this act.
References
Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 'Codes of Practice – Code an Exercise by Police Officers of
Statutory Powers of Stop and Search' (Govuk 2018)
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/384108/2013PACEcodeA.pdf> accessed 6 December 2018
BBC News, 'Stop and Search 'Disproportionate' (BBC News, 2013)
<https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-24902389> accessed 6 December 2018
Bowling BC Phillips, 'Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on
Police Stop and Search' (2007) 70 Modern Law Review
Crown, 'Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Codes of Practice' (GOV.UK, 2018)
<https://www.gov.uk/guidance/police-and-criminal-evidence-act-1984-pace-codes-of-
practice#overview> accessed 6 December 2018

Crown, 'Revised Code of Practice for the Exercise by: Police Officers of Statutory Powers of
Stop and Search' (Crown 2018)
Delsol R, Stop and Search: The Anatomy of a Police Power (Palgrave Macmillan 2015)
Delsol RM Shiner, 'Regulating Stop and Search: A Challenge for Police and Community
Relations in England And Wales' (2006) 14 Critical Criminology
Harris D, Factors For Reasonable Suspicion: When Black and Poor Means Stopped and
Frisked (William S Hein and Co 1994)
Johnston ET Smith, Criminal Procedure and Punishment (Hall and Stott 2018)
Jones S, 'The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984' (1985) 48 the Modern Law Review
Knowles J, N PersicoP Todd, 'Racial Bias in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence'
(2001) 109 Journal of Political Economy
Office H, 'Stop and Search' (Ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk, 2018)
<https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/
stop-and-search/latest> accessed 6 December 2018
Platt L, Poverty and Ethnicity in the UK (Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2007)
Sharp DS Atherton, 'To Serve And Protect?: The Experiences Of Policing In The Community
Of Young People From Black And Other Ethnic Minority Groups' (2007) 47 British
Journal of Criminology
Radford K, J BettsM Ostermeyer, Policing, Accountability And The Black And Minority
Ethnic Communities In Northern Ireland (Institute for Conflict Research 2006)