A Comprehensive Report on Stop and Search Practices and Police Power

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of stop and search practices within UK policing, examining their historical context, legal framework, and impact on different segments of the population. The report begins with an introduction to the stop and search tactic, outlining its origins under t...Read More

POLICING AND POLICE
POWER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
(b) Integration of stop and search with intelligence led policing.................................................5
(c) Recommendations and developments for improvement of stop and search practices.185....7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The stop and search tactic is a right given to the police officers under section 1 of the
PACE Act introduced in year 1984. This strategy was initially intended to reduce the rate of
crimes and increase the safeguarding of the public. This was initially very effective in increasing
the crime detection rate by the police and helped in reducing crimes but after the launch of
section 60 Criminal Justice and Public order Act in 1994, the increase in the misuse of the stop
and search right increased drastically. This report will evaluate the shift in statistics that are
related to the stop and search cases in the period of past 25 years and also highlight the different
sections of public of UK that has been affected by it. In the further section, the report will
highlight that how the stop and search tactic can be adopted or integrated with the stop and
search strategy adopted by the police department. In the last section of this report, the
recommendations regarding the improvement in the implementation of the stop and search action
by the UK Police will be made and the developments that have already been done will be
discussed. Lastly, an appropriate conclusion summarizing all the key facts will be presented in
the report.
MAIN BODY
Police is a representative body which tends to focus on enforcing new law. Policing tends
to include array of activities in various different situation. Policing is referred to as the
enforcement of regulations or various arrangement by effectively maintaining law and order.
Police is responsible for enforcing law, maintaining public order, detecting and investigating
several criminal activities ( (Murray and et.al., 2020)). Police power is referred to as the capacity
of the states in order to regulate the behaviour and also enforce various order within the specific
territory which helps in better treatment of the morals, general welfare, heath and safety, etc.
Stop and search is referred to as the policing practice in order to stop a person in order to search
for prohibited items, weapons and drugs (McCandless and et.al., 2016). The stop and search
tends to take place under section 1 of Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984. Search and stop
is done in order to search individuals for things like weapons, stolen property, drugs, etc. The
powers of the Wales and England police is largely defined by the statue law who in turn has
reasonable grounds to stop and search people if they think they are in the possession of
prohibited item. Stop and search is considered

Since the year 1995, per head of the population within England and Wales, has been recorded for
stops and searches for the Asian people which tends to have remained between 1.5 and 2.5 times
for white people. On the other hand, for black people it has been between 4 and 8 times the rate
against white people. The statistics shows that, members of the ethnic group and black members
in turn tends to have stopped and searched more when compared with the white people. It has
been examined, 277378 stop and search incidents in Wales and England in fiscal year 2017-18 at
a rate of 5 incidents per 1000 individuals (Stop and search. 2019). It has come down from 23 per
1000 individuals in the year 2009-10. The rates of the stop and search in turn has gradually
declined for various ethnic group since the year 2009-10. In the year 2017-18, there was 3 stop
and searches for 1000 white people as compared to the 29 stop and searches for 1000 black
people. Black people were 9.5 times more likely to be stop and searched as compared to the
white people. It has been investigated that, approximately 17% of the stop and search tends to
result in arrest. In the year 2017-18, under section 60 of Criminal Justice And Public Order Act,
where senior police officer authorise search for weapons has tended to increased to 2500.

Stop and searches in turn has peaked to 800000 in the year 2008-09, but has significantly
fallen to 130000 in the year 2017-18.
(b) Integration of stop and search with intelligence led policing.
The Intelligence led policing aspect can be discussed by evaluating the national
Intelligence Model that has been developed, and the Management of Police Information. The
concept of reactive and proactive policing can be discussed while evaluating the stop and search
strategy (Stop and Search Recommendations, 2020). When the number of reported crimes rose
higher than the number of detected crimes, i.e. when the police was unable to develop a
proactive approach towards crime identification rather than the reactive approach, it
automatically led to the police developing strategies for prior identification of the offenders. The
proactive strategy was modelled of in the form of Stop and Search strategy and later in order to
enhance the intelligence led policing, development of National Intelligence Model was deemed
necessary. It was a framework that helped in improving the safety in the community, reducing
the crime rate and minimizing disorder as well. They developed profiles based on different
characteristics of potential miscreants in the society and this helped in identifying the potential
offenders. This model in implemented at local, regional, national and international level and
operates on the basis of the intelligence cycle (O’Neill and Aston, 2016). However, it was found
that this model is not an adequate medium for the crime resolution because it the police was not
able to share information that had been collected effectively. The murder case of Holly Wells
and Jessica Chapman was a crime that mainly occurred due to the failure of sharing information
between the police and local authorities where the problem of mismanagement related to the vast
quantity of information was highlighted.
This led to the development of national level IT systems, containing all the information,
the Police National Computer i.e. PNC, developing codes of record keeping etc. Collectively this
led to the assistance in the stop and search strategy where Section 1 of Police and Criminal
Evidence Act stated that if the police has any reasonable grounds to believe that a person is in
possession of certain dangerous product, they can stop and search that person (Murray and et.al.,
2020). This was effective in detecting crimes before they occurred but only for a certain time
period. Under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, section 60 gave the officers i.e. police
officers the right to perform such sudden searches even if they lacked any reasonable grounds for
suspicion (Why police stops should still be recorded, 2019).

Although this integration of stop and search with the intelligence model and information
sharing helped in increasing the crime detection rate and the police was able to avoid crime by
identifying the criminal, the unjust use of the stop and search right or its misappliance increased
by the police (Tiratelli, Quinton and Bradford, 2018). As it can be inferred from the statistics
above, the number of black people that were subjected the practice of stop and search after the
application of Section 60 increased dramatically and it was concluded that in the year that
Section 60 was made applicable, there were 48 more times when black individuals ere stopped
and questioned as compared to the past year when only section 1 was applicable under which the
ratio was lower at 26 times as compared to the white people (STOP AND SEARCH: WHAT YOU
NEED TO KNOW, 2019).
Further, the researches carried out by different institutions such as Stopwatch concluded
that after the police increased the number of Stop and Search cases in UK, it automatically led to
a corrosion of the relationship that exists between the communities and the police officers. The
Equality Impact Assessment also gave statement in support of the fact above where it was
concluded that the overuse or misuse of the power given under section 1 and section 60 and the
increased discrimination on behalf of police officers have made the communities lose their trust
in them. It was concluded that the implementation of the Section 60 without any restriction has
given the police officers a right to encourage the exploitation of discriminating black people
from white people. (Bradford, 2017) Even the reports published by Home Office itself have
stated that the power of Stop and Search has not resulted in the crime reduction and the rate at
which it is being misused has significantly risen. Earlier, when only section 1 was applied, the
use of stop and search in crime detection along with the intelligence led police practices had led
to an increase in the number of detection and crime avoidance rates (Green, 2017).
This helps in concluding that the implementation of section 60 has not helped with the
integration of the Intelligent policing with that of the stop and search because rather than being
used for the purpose with which it was launched, its misuse has increased over the years
drastically. It can also be concluded that the intended purpose of the management of Police
Information has not been adequately complied with where it is increasingly being avoided and
there are a numerous case where stopping of the individual is no properly recorded and
sometimes even not recorded at all (Flacks, 2018). There is no adequate reason given regarding
the restraining of the individuals under stop and search and irrespective of the reason they are

being stopped, there is no documentation of the mental pressure that they are suffering thus
leaving no proof with the individuals of the stopping and checking by the police. Lack of proper
documentation and further inappropriate reasons behind stopping the individuals have made
people question the Section 60 where there have been violent protests and recommendation of
people that the Section 60 be removed or strike down (McCandless and et.al., 2016). People have
lost their trust in the police and rather than cooperating in increasing the crime detection rates in
UK i.e. the original purpose with which it was launched has been lost. Therefore, rather than
encouraging the intelligence led policing in UK where information was communicated quickly
and criminals or law offenders were being tried to be identified, the implementation of Section
60 created a more negative than positive impact (Hargreaves, 2018). Restriction on the
implementation of Section 1 and removal of Section 60 altogether can act as some of those
effective measures that will help the police of UK in restoring the original purpose with which
this privilege was awarded to the police.
(c) Recommendations and developments for improvement of stop and search practices.185
In the recent years, the Stop and Search right has increasingly been misused and the
number of complaints or resistance from the people towards the police has increased rapidly.
This increasing resistance shows that there need to be certain improvement in the existing
policies or practices that have been adopted by the police department of UK:
Importance of Recording: This is the most important or crucial recommendation that can be
made i.e. increased emphasis on the necessary documentation and recording will help in
addressing many of the problems that have arisen under the stop and search right. When the
police will be required to record reasons behind stopping the people, this will reduce the number
of unnecessary stops (Awan, 2016). Further, this will also help in reducing the religion or colour
based stopping of people and if the reason that is used for stopping the person is not found o be
adequate, the seniors of such police officer can take stricter actions. This will increase the
accountability of the police officers where they will not stop people without proper reasons.
Although, police officers can argue that the recording process increases the bureaucratic
measures which might prevent the officers to take quicker actions, but in order to keep the
actions of police in check and to also ensure that the people who are being stopped or questioned
have proper proofs of the reasons why they were stopped, written work is necessary (Newburn,

2017). Therefore, this will help in effectively reducing the misuse of the power to stop and
search.
Monitoring by Communities: Even though the police is performing their duty of stopping and
searching whomever they find as suspicious, the role of people and community extends much
beyond that. The communities have an additional duty of holding the police accountable for their
actions in returns and developing community scrutiny models that will help them in constantly
reviewing the actions of the police and identifying the reasons behind which they were stopped
and searched. Further, the people who are unsatisfied or offended with the searching practices or
the reasons with which they were stopped, they should have an easier mechanism of reporting
such dissatisfaction to heads of the respective police departments (Bradford and Jackson, 2016).
This development of a community scrutiny model can be used where the police are required to
regularly account for and justify the reasons which they used for stopping the people i.e. how did
they ascertain that they have sufficient grounds for stopping and searching a person. This
recommended strategy will help in empowering the public along with the police so that
unjustified practices can be avoided on both sides. Hence, this will address the problem of
declining community trust.
Code of Practice: The police officers who are entitled to stop and search will be allowed to do so
only after they have ben properly trained and are responsible regarding the use of rights that they
been granted. Only when an officer is found to be responsible enough, and they pass the grounds
of ethical and just behaviour, they must be allowed to question the public (Laniyonu, 2018).
There should be a development of a code of conduct for the police officers allowed to stop and
search i.e. only if the police officers find that the current situation requires the use of Stop and
Search especially under the section 60, only in those limited situations should this be exercised.
The judgement of the police officer regarding the situation is of key importance here i.e. there is
a need of using authorized and experienced police officers for this field rather than the newer
police officers. Additionally, this code of conduct should also involve a series of actions that are
to be taken regarding the different situations that might occur during stop and search and the
police officer must be instructed to never venture out of the code of conduct such developed
(Bradford, 2017).
Stop and search for children: This is a very serious issue that requires much in depth work and
study. Stopping the children under the age of 10 or the teenagers under 18, should be done in

some very particular cases. If the children or teenagers are being examined, the written document
must contain all the details regarding whether their clothes were removed or not, whether there
was any public or witnesses available while this was going on, what was the search location,
gender of the person being stopped and the availability of lady police if the person such stopped
was female (McCandless and et.al., 2016). The police officers should also have adequate
authority regarding strip searching the children and the officer must always try to do so in the
presence of a parent or a responsible guardian. Further, it can be recommended that whenever a
teenager or child is being stopped and searched there should be a proper report that should be
presented before the higher authority. This will help in ensuring that no unjustified, illegal or
insulting practices are being adopted on the behalf of police officers while examining the
teenagers and children and also they will be able to hold the offenders adequately responsible i.e.
drug abusing or drinking and driving tendencies of the teenagers which is a frequent practice can
be avoided by this (Murray and et.al., 2020). This will increase the crime detection through
intelligent policing by stop and search strategy.
Suggested Actions for aggrieved parties: Lastly, this point of recommendation, takes into
purview the fact that there should be adequate strategies or rights that the people who have been
aggrieved or disappointed can exercise for their benefit. Development of punishments and
penalties in case the police officers are found to be in fault can be a very satisfying measure
where the public knows and understands that they can hold the police officers accountable if they
are wronged in any manner. Further, the presentation of records before the public will also help
them in reviewing the actions that have been adopted by the police officers and how fair or just
such reasons and action based on such reasons are regarding the use of stop and search strategy.
Collectively, these recommendations will help in empowering both the police department and the
afflicted public which will help in ensuring that the police officers are kept in check and the
public can hold them regularly accountable.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the report above can be used to conclude that the stop and
search practices have indeed deviated from their original purpose with which they were
formulated. The report highlighted the statistics that pointed the increased discrimination
between the blacks and whites that police officers did in facilitation with the stop and search
activity and the resulting loss of trust and confidence in the public. This report further evaluated

the concept of intelligence led policing and the integration of this with the stop and search
strategy where the development of National Intelligence Model and the Police Information
Management was discussed in the report. It was critically evaluated where it was concluded that
despite the success of these measures, there were certain reasons why this failed due to increased
discrimination by police. Lastly, this report also concluded that there are certain strategies that
can be adopted or recommendations that can be made regarding the decline in the efficiency of
stop and search strategy and the effectiveness of these strategies in addressing these problems
was evaluated and presented. It was concluded that increasing the accountability of the police
officers was the best strategy that can be adopted in UK.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Awan, I., 2016. Stop and search: the anatomy of a police power.
Bradford, B. and Jackson, J., 2016. Enabling and constraining police power. The Routledge
Handbook of Criminal Justice Ethics, p.219.
Bradford, B., 2017. Stop and search and police legitimacy. Routledge.
Flacks, S., 2018. The stop and search of minors: A ‘vital police tool’?. Criminology & Criminal
Justice. 18(3). pp.364-384.
Green, A., 2017. Stop and search: the anatomy of a police power.
Hargreaves, J., 2018. Police Stop and Search Within British Muslim Communities: Evidence
From the Crime Survey 2006–11. The British Journal of Criminology. 58(6). pp.1281-
1302.
Laniyonu, A., 2018. Police, politics and participation: The effect of police exposure on political
participation in the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Criminology. 58(5).
pp.1232-1253.
McCandless, R and et.al., 2016. Do initiatives involving substantial increases in stop and search
reduce crime? Assessing the impact of Operation Blunt 2. London: Home Office.
Murray, K and et.al., 2020. Procedural justice, compliance with the law and police stop-and-
search: a study of young people in England and Scotland. Policing and Society, pp.1-20.
Newburn, T., 2017. The future of policing in Britain. In Transformations of policing (pp. 225-
247). Routledge.
O’Neill, M. and Aston, E., 2016. Police Scotland’s revised stop and search strategy. Annual
Report for. 47.
Tiratelli, M., Quinton, P. and Bradford, B., 2018. Does stop and search deter crime? Evidence
from ten years of London-wide data. The British Journal of Criminology. 58(5).
pp.1212-1231.
Online
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STOP AND SEARCH: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/human-rights/justice-and-fair-trials/stop-and-
search/stop-and-search-what-you-need-know>
Why police stops should still be recorded. 2019. [Online]. Available through: <http://www.stop-
watch.org/uploads/documents/WhyRecordingIsStillImportantBriefing.pdf>
Stop and Search Recommendations. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.hampshire.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/central/advice/
hampshire/stop-and-search/stop-and-search-recommendations-action-plan.pdf>
Stop and search. 2019. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.ethnicity-facts-
figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest>
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