Disproportionate use of stop powers against Britain’s Black communities has been rising sharply over the past eight years, ever since the ‘Stephen Lawrence agenda’ began to be quietly shelved.
It is a shame the last Labour Government did not order a full-scale review of stop and search despite growing evidence that powers were increasingly being abused for racial profiling causing tension on the streets.
An investigation into this is long, long overdue; I’ve been writing about it for years. Indeed stop and search has been top of a list of concerns of community leaders since I can remember.
I am of course delighted that a Government is finally addressing an issue that criminalises generation after generation of Black youth and drives a wedge between the community and the police who are supposed to protect society.
However we must ensure that the new review is handled competently and that the right avenues are explored. That includes making use of the policing expertise available even before a consultation is launched to frame it correctly.
Speaking on Call Clegg this week the Deputy Prime Minister said:
“…there are some statistics saying that black men are being searched 40 times more than their white counterparts. And so… we need to have a proper consultation and review about how this can be done, yes give the police the powers they need but made sure it’s done as proportionately and fairly as possible.
“And, look we’ve been thinking in government about consulting on exactly this, to sort of gather views, listen to people… on this vexed issue of stop and search and I hope that we can accelerate that and make sure that we publish this consultation as soon as possible.”
I wrote last December that Black youth were now 43 times more likely to be stopped and searched under ‘section 60’ powers; the new Sus Laws where officers do not need reasonable suspicion that a citizen is about to or has committed a crime in order to stop them.
The figure was 28 times more likely to be stopped, but that was based on figures from the Equality and Human Rights Commission using 2001 census data. The latest 2011 census rapidly increased the extent of disproportionality.
The figures are stark but the solutions to the problem are more complicated. Some people like youth commentator Marc Vallée have argued that stop and search is such a blunt tool with a spectacularly low success rate it should be abolished altogether. Their views, shared by a large slice of anti-racist activists and youths at the sharp end of unfair policing, are legitimate and must remain on the table in any consultation.
Others, including activists mindful of a community living in fear of crime willing to tolerate a sensible and proportionate use of stop and search, argue that the police tactic needs urgent reform if the force is to use such powers on the street. And that’s where the question of what options people prefer comes into play.
Running parallel to this is the issue of making police more accountable for their actions and ensuring that citizens, especially youths, know their rights and are able to complain if they believe they have been badly treated or racially-profiled and get redress from a complaints system that is objective, transparent and effective.
At the same time in these straightened times no-one wants to hamper police operational effectiveness by loading more bureaucracy on them. Which brings me full circle; the current state of affairs means police are largely wasting their own time carrying out random stops and searches.
Stops and searches of Black youth has grown by a third, about the time when the Lawrence agenda was being ditched. Only two percent of stops under ‘section 60’ powers resulted in an arrest, and it is highly likely that conviction rates will be under one percent. And assuming that some of these will be minor convictions the ‘real’ rate of serious offences will be absolutely miniscule.
That is a phenomenal waste of police time using tactics which are little more than a fishing expedition in a lake where few criminal fish get caught. What is almost impossible to measure yet is crucially important is the effect that damaged community-police relations have on the flow of intelligence of real criminality which is most effective in keeping the community safe.
Section 60, which began life as an anti-terrorist measure before being used against football fans on matchdays, is now the power of choice to stop Black youth based on nothing other than their appearance and colour; a convenient vehicle for some cops to exercise their prejudices.
I believe that section 60 should be scrapped and that will leave officers with an armful of stop and search powers, such as PACE, which they can use whenever they have reasonable suspicion. Indeed there are many policing laws, each one appended with their own stop and search powers for individual categories of actual or suspected crimes. If beat constables swatted up on the range of powers available to them rather than lazily fall back on the easiest-understood and most easily-abused power they are more than equipped to do their job properly.
So what of these golf-bag full of powers? I favour retaining them with the proviso that the public have confidence they are being used correctly. And that can be guaranteed by sending everyone who is stopped and searched a letter informing them under which power they were stopped and what that power is supposed to be used for.
This can be done without requiring officers to fill in a single form. Every time an officer stops a member of the public they run a police check. This process can be amended so that information on the nature of the stop, and the ethnicity of the person, is inputted verbally to the call center or electronically on a handheld device. This can then automatically generate a letter which is sent to citizen who is also offered a route to complain on the same letter if they are not satisfied.
That will mean that not only can the person see whether the powers used to stop and search them match the reasons given, but the police can better collect data that will show how each power is being used and monitor in real-time its’ effectiveness and the extent of disproportionality. Advice and training – or in severe cases warnings – can them be issued by senior officers or the Home Office where problems are identified.
We won’t have to wait two years for a report to be produced as data could be instantly available to decision-makers, right down to which officers are using their powers correctly or otherwise, and certain information on general performance can be published and updated frequently by area.
In addition, equipping each and every beat officer with a camera built into their uniform, as has been trialled in Sutton, can allow every citizen who complains to view a video of their interaction with the police.
I expect that following Clegg’s comments on LBC that ministers will make an announcement about the stop and search consultation very shortly. I wait this with great interest, pleased that Government taking the issue seriously for the first time in 30 years but anxious to see that this process is framed correctly so that it leaves a lasting legacy.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway