In London only 26% of all stop and searches result in an arrest

As a member of the Metropolitan Police, I was assigned to numerous front-line roles. Predominantly serving in Brixton and Croydon,  I also worked in areas across the whole of London.

All of my roles included an element of proactive policing. I served as a public order officer and was deployed to crime hotspot areas. I also served on proactive burglary and robbery teams with the aim to disrupt criminal behaviour and reduce violent crime over a period of time.

My biggest weapon as a police officer was the use of stop and search. I gained in depth knowledge around the laws relating to stop and search and became highly competent in the implementation.

Throughout my career, stop and search was always at the forefront of public debate around police activity. Conducting  a stop and search in any area of London drew attention and, sometimes, hostility. But when you are tasked with reducing knife crime for example, your options were limited. The need to stop the next stabbing/murder, often outweighed the potential negative reaction from the community. I have worked with officers who would ‘shy’ away from conducting a stop and search to avoid confrontation. But I always felt that if used correctly and legally, it was the most effective proactive tool we possessed.

Police recording of stop and search has varied over the past few decades and the figures have been used for a Variety of purposes. The figures can be manipulated and collated to suit an agenda. Perhaps a mayoral election, or a means for a home secretary to justify taking action on sensitive matters (or not).

These agendas filter directly down to the source. The officer conducting the search. The agendas change and sometimes on a quarterly basis. Throughout my career I was spoken to by senior management about conducting too many negative stop and searches. I was also spoken to by senior managers for not conducting enough!

On leaving the police I used my knowledge around the subject of ‘’stop and  search’’ in the private security sector. Consulting with event organisers and licensed premises in implementing a search strategy. Explaining the rationale between certain recommendations can sometimes draw healthy debate.

I have now seen the police stop and search activity from a civilian’s perspective. A common theme I found amongst business connections and non-police friends, is the aspect of a negative stop and search. The figures have always been consistent with between 20-26% (Met police area) of all stop and searches resulting in an arrest or other action. So that means 74-80% of stop and searches must be illegal or a waste of time?

I would not expect those not from a police background to have in-depth knowledge around stop and search, but I have faced issues  with senior police officers.

During my time on a proactive unit, I was called in to speak with a chief inspector. He pulled up a database which included all of my stop and searches for the past few months. He pointed out that at that time I was the officer on my borough with the highest amount of stop and searches. My success rate was around 40% which was above the force average. But at that time (2013) it did not fit the agenda. I was instructed to either stop conducting stop and searches or record only the positive ones in a bid to lower the negative search rate. Neither was an option for me. The second is actually illegal.

So instead, I decided to educate my superior on the use of stop and searches as a tool to combat crime. Below is a summary of my letter

WHAT IS A NEGATIVE STOP AND SEARCH? 

 Stop and search is again in the forefront of the policing agenda and it appears that senior management have been tasked with lowering the negative stop and search figures.

This has been interpreted to mean completely eliminating the practice of stop and search unless you know the result will be positive . Unfortunately, these can have dangerous consequences on the ‘’front line’’ as officers are growing increasingly worried about utilising the tactic through fear of not finding anything and being disciplined.

Below are some true examples of negative stop and searches

1.Officers on patrol see a vehicle driving at speed late at night in a usually quite residential area. The vehicle was stopped and a strong smell of cannabis present. A section 23 MDA search was conducted. No drugs were found.. Recorded as a stop and search with a negative outcome.

Later intelligence checks carried out on the vehicle and its driver revealed that the driver was a suspected drug dealer. He had dropped off the polices radar for a few months as he had sold a vehicle and the new vehicle details were not known. Until this stop. He has been linked to firearms offences after threatening to shoot someone over a long running drug territory dispute. The threats were assessed as real and the potential for the suspect to have the means to carry out the threat was assessed high.

Conducting the stop did not result in any arrest, but it provided vital intelligence to support drugs warrants, RIPPA applications and provided movement details. Surely that’s a positive outcome?

2.Officers on patrol spot a known gang member who had recently threatened to ‘’stab’’ a rival gang member. The suspect was found near to the location the person whom he threatened worked.

Not being able to provide an account for his presence in the area, he was searched under section 1 PACE.

No weapons were found. Suspect allowed to carry on. NEGATIVE outcome

30 minutes after the stop, officers from the local policing team attended the location to conduct a weapons sweep. They had conducted one the day before in the same location.

Hidden in a flower bed about 1o meters further along the road, a large Rambo style knife was found. It had not been there he day before.

Linking this with the intelligence around the suspect shows that high possibility the knife was his and he was on his way to carry out the stabbing threat. Positive outcome then?

The examples are endless. When conducting stops on known burglars, gang members, robbers and sex offenders, you may not find anything incriminating on them. The stop will be recorded as having a negative outcome. However, the intelligence around the location of the stop, clothing worn by the subject and the people they are with at the time of the stop could help solve major crime months down the line.

Summary

It seems impossible to inform the public about the inner workings of stop and search when some senior police officers are themselves unaware. But I think that the police and the home office need to work with the public to explain more details about the tactics and usefulness of stop and search. It’s easy to simplify statistics to give a percentage of negative searches but I will bet my pension that most negative stop and searches have had a positive impact whether or not it is immediately apparent.

I believe that the police have no alternative but to continue with stop and search practices. But if they want to do that with a higher level of good public perception, they need to share more details.

Knife crime in the capital is increasing. The public confidence in policing is always in question. If the public knew exactly why and how stop and searches are carried out, would they be so against it?