UK: Policing the streets: stop and search powers in 1995(feature)
01 July 1996
[FIGURES ONLY AVAILABLE IN PRINTED FORMAT]
Introduction
The Home Office has published details of the operation in 1995 of certain powers under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) for England and Wales and other legislation including the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971, Firearms Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act and Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc) Act 1985. Once again they draw attention to the increasing use of police powers on the streets (see, "Policing the Streets: the use and abuse of police powers", Statewatch, vol 5, no 4).
Stop and search in England and Wales.
Between 1993 and 1994 the number of stops and searches increased by over one third from 442,800 to 576,000. Between 1994 and 1995 there was another staggering increase of over 114,000 bringing the total to over 690,000. There are now six times more stops and searches on the streets of England and Wales than in 1986 when the powers were first introduced. The steady upward increase in the number of persons and/or vehicles stopped and searched can be seen in Fig 1.
Figure 1
The police are required to note the reason for a stop and search. In 1995 37% of stops and searches were to look for stolen property, followed by 34% to look for drugs. Fig 2 notes the trends in the different reasons given for stops and searches.
Figure 2
The figures for individual police forces show very wide variation in the use of the powers in 1995. Over half (53%) of all stops and searches were carried out by the Metropolitan Police and the Greater Manchester Police. When the figures are standardised in relation to the size of the population in a Police Force Area the variations are still considerable. While five forces had search rates of less than 300 per 100,000 of the population at the other end 16 Police Forces had search rates of over 1000 per 100,000. The Metropolitan Police has the highest rate of more than 4000 per 100,000 of the population, followed by Dyfed Powys with over 3,000 per 100,000 of the population.
Another way to examine the figures is in terms of the level of crime in each Police Force Area. It might be expected that higher rates of stop and search would occur in areas which experience high crime rates. When the stop and search figures are related to the number of notifiable offences there appears to be some relationship between the two, but there is still some extraordinary variation. For example, 10 Police Forces have stop and search rates of under 45 per 1000 of notifiable offences while at the other end the City of London Police has a rate of over 800 and Dyfed Powys of 779 stop and searches per 1000 of notifiable offences. Fig 3 shows the searches per 1000 notifiable offences by police force area.
Figure 3
There has also been large variations between Police Forces in the use of stop and search powers over the period 1987 to 1995. While the number of stops and searches in England and Wales as a whole has increased sixfold, in the Cumbria Police Force twenty times more people are being stopped and searched in 1995 than in 1987. There have been similar staggering increases in Dyfed Powys, Northumbria and Cleveland.
Figure 4. Increase in SS 1987-1995
Outcomes of stop and search powers.
The number of arrests arising from the stops and searches have increased in the period 1986 to 1995 from 18,900 to 81,000 - a fourfold increase. On the surface it would appear that the increase use of stop and search has been effective in the fight against crime. But this is not necessary the case. No figures are currently kept on the outcome of arrests arising from these powers, but there is evidence from various studies to suggest that the proportion of arrests disposed of by no further action has increased significantly in recent years. In other words, although more people are being arrested and processed in the police station proportionately more are being released without action. Thus, the increa