Neil Parpworth interprets the latest Home Office figures on stop and search
- Data on officer-observed ethnicity, age and gender of stop and search targets reveal patterns in its use.
- Black and Asian people are disproportionally more likely than White people to be stopped and searched.
- Most s 60 stop and searches take place in London, there are none at all in some parts of England.
Each year, normally towards the end of October, the Home Office publishes data relating to the exercise of various police powers, such as stop and search and arrest, during the previous financial year. The data is obtained from the 44 police forces in England and Wales (including the British Transport Police). This year, its publication was a little delayed, with the result that it was made available online on 18 November). In the discussion which follows, the focus will be on the use by the police of what has been described as ‘one of the most controversial powers’ (per Delsol and Shiner in Stop and search: the anatomy of
