The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has responded to a public consultation on stop and search powers on police forces in England and Wales.
More than 5,000 people responded to the consultation conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
27 per cent of the stop and search records they examined did not contain reasonable grounds to search people. That means more than a quarter of the one million people stopped by police, carried out under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act last year, could have been illegal.
Locally, Durham Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Ron Hogg monitors stop and search data to ensure equality in policing, as part of his scrutiny role across the Durham Constabulary area.
During 2013/14, Durham carried out 12,074 of which 11,958 (99%) were of white persons and 116 (1%) were from ethnic communities. The 2011 census showed that white persons represented 96.1% of the population of County Durham and Darlington, therefore, stop and searches of white persons are slightly above the proportion of the population. In terms of stop and searches per 1,000 population, for white persons this is 20.1 and 4.8 for ethnic communities.
Of the 11,958 white persons stopped and searched, 1,241 (10.4%) were arrested as a result, compared with 13 (11.2%) from ethnic communities.
Responding to the latest consultation, Mr Hogg said: “I expect everyone to be treated equally and I am happy that the force is not abusing the stop and search process in terms of targeting certain sections of the community”
Ron Hogg provides information about ‘Stop and Search – Know Your Rights’ on his website: http://www.durham-pcc.gov.uk/Your-Police/Stop-and-Search.aspx
Follow PCC Ron Hogg on Twitter: @RonaldHogg1 or organisation updates @DurhamPCC.