Stop and Search

 Young black males in London were 19 times more likely to be stopped and searched than the general population, a study of official data shows. The study also found that young black males were 28 times more likely to be stopped on suspicion of carrying weapons than the general population.

The tactic of racial profiling, was concentrated in deprived areas, and the success rate for searches turning up something potentially unlawful had fallen from two years ago, the research by University College London’s institute for global city policing found.

The Met reacted by saying it was not targeting young black males and only deployed stop and search in high violence and high crime areas, taking thousands of weapons a year off the streets. Increases in stops by the Met have been justified as being necessary to tackle knife crime. The study found one in six reasons for a stop was for weapons, while 65% was for drugs.

Victor Olisa, a former lead for the Met on stop and search, said the study revealed profiling, which was shredding confidence in Britain’s biggest force. Olisa, who led on stop and search for the force from 2006 to 2008 and was a lead on diversity in 2016-17, said: “For me this is clear evidence the Met is targeting young black boys based on stereotypes and not backed by reasonable suspicion.

“This clearly does not represent evidence-based policing or intelligence-led policing. It indicates it has become more random than it was before.”

The former Met chief superintendent said black people in London, including the young and professionals, increasingly did not feel they were being “policed by consent”, which is the guiding philosophy of British law enforcement.

“Given this data I would question whether the black community would feel they are being policed by consent,” he said. “My friends and family living in London who are black, do not feel they are being policed by consent.”

The success rate for stops had fallen, from 28% in 2018 to 22% between March and September this year. Half of the searches occurred in 9% of neighbourhoods and 69% of searches were in neighbourhoods more deprived than average.

Dr Matt Ashby, who led the UCL study, said, “The proportion of searches that are for the most harmful items such as weapons is going down and the proportion of searches resulting in no further action going up, which suggests searches may have become less effectively targeted as the number of searches increased in the past two years.”

Young black males in London '19 times more likely to be stopped and searched' | Stop and search | The Guardian