Black people are six times more likely to be stopped and searched, up from four times in 2016. In some parts of the country, this difference is even more stark.
These are the findings of a June 2017 report (pdf) from the Criminal Justice Alliance.
More key findings are:
- Stop and search is often promoted as a useful police tactic to reduce crime. Many young BAME people agree – when it is used fairly. However, there remains limited evidence to support the theory that stop and search actually reduces crime
- The most recent review of stop and search records nationally found that 15% still did not show any reasonable grounds for a search
- For BAME communities in particular, stop and search undermines confidence in the police. Three quarters of young BAME people think they and their communities are targeted unfairly by stop and search
- Young BAME people express feelings of being harassed and provoked by police officers who are sometimes perceived to want to ‘trip them up’ and escalate an encounter to a stop and search.