Stop and Search
Stop and search is one of the most controversial and critiqued police powers.
According to Home Office data published in 2021, Black people are 7x more likely to be searched under s.1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1988) (PACE), and this disproportionality increased to 14 times under s.60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) powers.
Of the 695,009 stops undertaken during the year ending March 2021, 77% led to a recorded outcome of ‘no further action.’ This means that police stopped and searched people and found nothing.
It is disproportionately used, particularly against Black boys and young men – leading to the harassment, humiliation and enforcement of trauma on thousands of people each year.
UNJUST, along with civil society organisations, grassroots groups from across the country, accountability bodies such as His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), ex-police, and even former Home Secretaries like Theresa May, have called attention to the dangers of this police power.
Yet the current Government is seeking to expand it. We were part of a coalition that tried to stop the introduction of new individualised and suspicionless stop and search powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
We succeeded in drawing attention to this issue and worked with organisations such as Liberty to table an amendment repealing s60. We also held Home Secretary Priti Patel to account, launching litigation against her decision to relax crucial safeguards on police use of Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
But our work is not over. Join us as we campaign to end racially discriminating stop and search and for the Government to roll back the expansion of this police power through new Serious Violence Reduction Orders.
Campaigns:
Joint briefing on Serious Violence Reduction Orders.
Reports:
HMICFRS Stop and Search Report
IOPC National Stop & Search Learning Report
Statistics: