MPS use of Stop and Search powers

Report: 4
Date: 29 October 2009
By: T/ Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update of the MPS use of Stop and Search powers.

A. Recommendations

That

1. the MPA Community Engagement & Citizen Focus Committee note the MPS stop and search update in response to the MPA Standing Quarterly Brief.

B. Supporting information

1. Stop and search, when used with the support and confidence of communities, is a valuable tool in tackling criminality and terrorism.

2. The main intention of stop and search is to allow officers to allay or confirm suspicion about people, without exercising their power of arrest. Searches must be based on reasonable grounds for suspicion that the person has a particular article in their possession. Exceptions to this are when officers are:

• Authorised under section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT);
• Authorised under section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA).

3. The MPS accounts for over a third of all stops and searches in England and Wales. On average there are 50,000 stop and searches and 60,000 stop and accounts taking place each month in the MPS.

4. Stop and Search is used very productively in support of Blunt 2, counter terrorism operations and everyday policing. MPS use of stop and search powers has increased in recent years, not least because there are more operational officers and special constables than ever before, but also through better, more confident use of the tactic and improved accountability, training and monitoring.

5. Use of stop and search powers has to be tempered with the knowledge and understanding that it requires the trust and confidence of the community to be fully effective. It is important that Londoners accept stop and search as legitimate, necessary, effective and fair.

6. The use of stop and search in the MPS is directed by policy and five Standard Operating Procedures. The aim of the MPS stops and searches policy is to ensure that officers comply with the law, acting within their powers and that all stop and search/account powers are used fairly, responsibly, without unlawful discrimination and with respect for people being searched.

7. Schedule 7 Terrorism Act 2000 is not a stop and search power in the way that Section 1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, or Section 44 Terrorism Act are. Its use is confined to ports for a very specifically defined purpose. Schedule 7 data is collated nationally, but forces are advised not to release the data in the interests of national security. Counter Terrorism Command (Ports Unit) has put in place several measures to mitigate the impact of the use of Schedule 7 on certain community groups, through careful review of practices and exercise of powers in accordance with the legislative guidelines. Lord Carlisle’s recent report reaffirms the national position in respect of use of powers, in which he states that “[he] is satisfied that in 2007 the port powers and checks and balances on those powers worked well and remained necessary”.

8. The MPS is required to provide a quarterly stop and search return to the Home Office. The most recent return is attached at Appendix 1 for the 1st financial quarter, April ’09 to June ’09.

9. During the 1st quarter there were 178,533 stop and account, 20,281 Section 60 CJPOA stop and search, 29,509 Section 44 Terrorism Act stop and search, 356 Section 43 Terrorism Act stop and search and 102,484 PACE and Other powers stop and search.

10. PACE and other searches are defined as including searches under Section 1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Section 23 Misuse of Drugs Act, Section 44 Firearms Act, Section 139 Criminal Justice Act and other powers.

11. The MPS is unable to provide data relating to persons charged subsequent to a stop and search because the national NSPIS Custody computer system and the MPS Stops database are incompatible.

12. Op Blunt 2 stops and searches are conducted daily across every borough in London by Response Team officers, Safer Neighbourhood officers, Pan London units, Specialist units and the Op Blunt 2 Taskforce.

13. The MPS does not currently record on the Stops database whether a stop/search relates to Op Blunt 2 or any other specific policing operation because there is no field on the new stop and search Form 5090 to record the Name of the operation and/or Operation order number. There used to be a specific field on the old Form 5090 to record this information but it was found that the information was often omitted and, as a free text field, lacked normalisation controls allowing wide variations in actual text. The data field was therefore removed from the form. As this information is not recorded on Form 5090 it is not input on the Stops database and therefore cannot be searched using the Stops Reporting Tool.

14. The Op Blunt Taskforce has different officers seconded to it each day. Searching the database for information relating to the Taskforce as a unit is not possible.

15. The MPS is currently unable to provide an accurate breakdown of all stop/search activity relating specifically to Op Blunt 2. However, the MPS can provide a breakdown of all Section 60 searches and all searches for pointed/bladed articles (defined under Section 139 Criminal Justice Act) and weapons under Section 1 PACE and it is assumed that the majority of these searches will be linked to Op Blunt activity.

16. Appendix 2 provides a comparison of Section 60, PACE Section 1 Offensive weapons and pointed/bladed articles, Other PACE searches and Stop & Account data for May - April 2007/8 & 2008/9 across Op Blunt 2 Tier One OCUs. There has been over 500% increase in Section 60 searches, over 100% increase in PACE Section 1 Offensive Weapon and pointed/bladed article searches but only a 30% increase in other PACE searches. MPS disproportionality rates have not increased. This shows targeted and proportionate use of powers to deal with the knife crime problem.

17. Appendix 3 provides a pictorial comparison of Section 60 and PACE Section 1 Offensive Weapons and pointed/bladed articles searches by BOCU across the MPS (highlighting Op Blunt 2 Tier One BOCUs) for the periods April 2007 - March 2008 and April 2008 - March 2009.

18. The vast majority of MPS BOCUs have some level of Community Monitoring of stop and search. This ranges from a totally Independent Monitoring Group to a sub group of Community and Police Engagement/Consultative Groups (CPEGs) to an agenda item of CPEG/IAG meetings. The majority meet either bi-monthly or quarterly.

19. Only Hackney, Greenwich and Redbridge have no current community monitoring mechanism in place, however, all three boroughs are actively seeking to rectify this. Their situation is being monitored by both the MPS stop and search team and the MPA Engagement and Partnership unit.

20. Numerous and varied stop and search community engagement and liaison activities take place across the MPS on an ongoing basis, examples being; Harrow and Brent have produced DVDs, TSG4 working with ‘Second Wave’ a drama group in Lewisham, Young Advisors engaging with police during training sessions in Southwark and Waltham Forest, young people from Brent attending Hendon and engaging in role play scenarios with recruits, community members observing ‘Safer Nights’ stop and search operations in Westminster, Stop and Search reassurance presentations to community groups in Lambeth including question and answer sessions.

21. The MPS does not currently maintain a corporate database of all stop and search related community engagement activities across London, however, a new process has been created to capture this information. The first results will be published in the next quarterly review.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The use of Stop and Search, and Stop and Account in the MPS is directed by Policy and five Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The aim of the MPS Stops and Searches Policy is to ensure that officers comply with the law, acting within their powers and that all Stop and Account and Search powers are used fairly, responsibly, without unlawful discrimination and with respect for people being searched. This Policy and SOPs are published in the public domain and are subject to regular review by the Stops and Searches Team.

2. The MPS publishes on the Internet, the Monitoring Mechanism on a monthly basis. This provides each BOCUs data on stop and search and for the MPS. This allows Community Monitoring Groups to scrutinise the use of stop and search by their local BOCU and to hold them to account, it also allows for comparisons to be made by BOCUs and against the MPS.

3. The MPS and every individual BOCU has completed an Equality Impact Assessment on their use of stop and search.

4. Operation Pennant, a performance framework for stop and search, provides London wide scrutiny of stop and search. Disproportionality and arrest rates are scrutinised down to team and individual officer level.

D. Financial implications

There are no additional financial implications arising directly from this report.

E. Legal implications

None arising directly from this report.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report author(s): Inspector Andy Walker, TPHQ Patrol OCU, MPS

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback