Transcript Stop and search in England and Wales

Stop and search of
ethnic minorities in the
UK
A researcher’s perspective
Introduction
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“Stop and search” – legislative and non-legislative
encounters:
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stolen goods, tools for theft, drugs, weapons, terrorism, traffic
stops, stop and talk
Historical resentment among ethnic minorities
(especially black people)
Trigger for Brixton riots (1981)
Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: “institutional
racism” of stop and search (1999)
“Disproportionality” in stop
and search statistics
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>20 years of surveys: blacks
stopped/searched more than whites.
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“Ethnic monitoring” within the police service
shows also blacks searched more.
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Evidence of police stereotyping in decisions
to stop/search (“ethnic profiling”)?
Police search statistics 2004/5:
Searches per 1,000 population
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
white
black
Asian
other
“Disproportionality” in stop
and search statistics

>20 years of surveys: blacks
stopped/searched more than whites.

“Ethnic monitoring” within the police service
shows also blacks searched more.

Evidence of police stereotyping in decisions
to stop/search (“ethnic profiling”)?
Questioning “ethnic profiling”
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Does disproportionality mean stereotyping?
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Problems with census benchmark
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Police operational factors affect stop patterns:
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Geographical/temporal deployment
Suspect descriptions
Ethnic differences in lifestyle affect stop patterns:
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Use of public space
Time of day
New research challenges
“ethnic profiling”
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Measures of “available populations” (in
streets/cars where stop and search takes place)
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different from resident populations
similar to stop and search profiles.
Similar conclusions across sites and studies:
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Watford (Bonniface, 1999)
Greenwich, Hounslow, Leeds, Leicester, Ipswich
(MVA & Miller, 2000)
Reading and Slough (Waddington et al. 2004)
City of London (Hallsworth et al. 2006)
Pedestrian searches in Hounslow
(London) (MVA and Miller, 2000)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
other
Asian
black
white
Census
population
(1991)
"Available"
population
Pedestrian
searches
Indirect racism?
“indirect discrimination shall be taken to occur where
an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice
would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin at a
particular disadvantage compared with other
persons, unless that provision, criterion or practice is
objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the
means of achieving that aim are appropriate and
necessary.”
(European Race Directive 2000, Article 2 b)
Is use of stop and search
“appropriate and necessary”?
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Limited effectiveness against crime:
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no correlation between searches and crime or detection
across forces
no correlation between searches and crime rates through
time
Wide variation in use of power:
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West Yorkshire 40 searches/1,000 people, Nottinghamshire
5 searches/1,1000 people
London ( MPS): increases black disproportion from 4 to 6
times
Conclusions
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Focus on “ethnic profiling” in stop and search reform
efforts
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accountability on-the-spot
monitoring of officer discretion (e.g. through review of data)
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Other causes of disproportionality not addressed
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Disproportionality similar today as before Stephen
Lawrence Inquiry.