Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 129Despite the supplementary provisions of PACE to stop and search powers, controversyfrequently surrounds the exercise of these statutory powers due to the disproportionatenumber of people from ethnic minorities being subject to stops. Figures released by theHome Office 341 and subsequent comparisons, reveal that between 2001/2002 and2002/2003 the number of recorded stop and searches rose by 17% for white people, butby 36% for Asian people and 38% for black people. However, the largest increase wasfor ‘Other’ minority ethnic groups at 47%. Such figures do not clearly demonstrate thedisproportionate increases that have been experienced since September 11 th 2001, but ananalysis from the organisation ‘Statewatch’ 342 highlights the following:- Since 2001/2002, stop and searches have increased by 66% for black people andby 75% for Asians compared to less than 4% for white people. Of furtherimportance is the observation that the largest increases have been experiencedby those who are classified by the police as ‘Other’ (90%) or ‘Not Known’(126%).- In 2003/2004, 14 individuals per 1,000 of the white population were subject tostop and searches as compared to 93 per 1,000 of the black population and 29per 1,000 of the Asian population.- Following the Metropolitan Police Authority’s (MPA) Stop and Search Scrutiny,the MPA was forced to conclude that ‘stop and search practices continue to beinfluenced by racial bias’ 343 .- Between 2001/2002 and 2002/2003, police stop and searches under terrorismlegislation rose by 302% for Asian people, by 230% for black people and by118% for white people. 344The Home Office has attempted to address this issue with the creation of the ‘Stop andSearch Action Team’ (SSAT) whose aim is to ensure that police forces use their stopand search powers as ‘fairly and effectively as possible to prevent and detect crime’ and‘to increase the confidence that the black and minority ethnic community have in theway the police use this power’ 345 . The SSAT strategy 2004/2005 346 brought togetherviews from various sources, including ‘The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report’ and the‘National Criminal Justice Board’, in an attempt to influence the exercise of stop andsearch powers and their effect upon community relations.The SSAT strategy envisaged, amongst other things, that by 1 st April 2005, all forcesshould be recording stops (in addition to stop and searches) and a revised Code A wouldalso encompass ‘stops’ in its guidance. The strategy revealed that the ‘Home OfficeResearch, Development and Statistics Directorate’ (RDS) carried out an evaluation ofrecording stops, and asserted that it had encouraged officers to be more appreciative ofissues surrounding ethnic origin. Simultaneously, however, the RDS revealed that there341 ‘Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System – 2003’, A Home Office Publication under section 95 of theCriminal Justice Act 1991. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm342 ‘Statewatch Special Report: Ethnic Injustice continues unabated. Statewatch News Online, April 2005. Statewatcharticle: RefNo# 26437, http://database.statewatch.org/unprotected/article.asp?aid=26437343 ‘MPA Stop and Search Scrutiny – Far reaching report published’, 38/04, Metropolitan Police Authority, May 202004, available at www.mpa.gov.uk/news/press/2004/04-038.htm344 ‘Terror Searches of Asians up threefold, Daily Telegraph, July 2, 2004.345 ‘Stop And Search Action Team: Interim Guidance’, Home Office, available atwww.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/Guidance26July.pdf.346 available on the Home Office website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/SSATPolicydoc.pdf