Stop and Search Monitoring report

Report: 6
Date: 4 October 2010
By: Commander 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 Sub Committee receive the MPS stop and search update in response to the MPA Standing Quarterly Brief.

B. Supporting information

1.  The MPS is required to provide a quarterly stop and search return to the Home Office. The most recent return is attached (refer to Appendix 1) for the 1st financial quarter 2010/11.

2. This report includes historic Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 data, however members should note that authority to use S.44 in the MPS expired at 23:59 hours on the 8 July 2010. The power to search under Section 43 Terrorism Act 2000 remains unaffected, but can only be exercised with ‘reasonable suspicion’.

3. During the 1st quarter of 2010/11, the total number of searches were as follows;

• 122,534 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
• 15,455 Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
• 9,086 Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000
• 165 Section 43 Terrorism Act 2000

In addition, there were 201,738 stop and accounts.

4. Compared to the 4th quarter 2009/10, PACE searches decreased by 7% (9,810), Section 60 searches decreased by 15% (2,696). Section 44 searches decreased by 35% (4,898), Section 43 searches decreased by 34% (87). The total number of Stop and Account increased by 3% (5,765).

5. Members should note that a review of the use of S.60 is currently taking place to ensure that it remains proportionate. All boroughs have been reminded of the need for careful, evidenced based consideration when considering the implementation of ‘borough wide’ authorities. The review is being conducted by the MPS Compliance, Audit and Assurance Team - its final report will be made available to Authority members.

6. As in previous updates, Appendix 2 provides 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. The majority of these searches are linked to Operation Blunt 2 activity. In the last three months three members of the Community Monitoring Network have attended Operation Blunt 2 operations to monitor stop and search interactions.

7. A breakdown of some community engagement activity by BCU’s is attached at Appendix 3. Engagement activities during the 1st quarter have included:

• In Bromley, Cray Valley East and Bickley Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT’s) attended The Duke and Woodlodge Gardens youth clubs to deliver educational input on police stop and search tactics.
• Darwin and Bickley SNT’s discussed stop and search as a tactic to detect and deter crime at Safer Neighbourhood ward panel meetings.
• Stop and search discussed during SNT ward surgeries in Hammersmith & Fulham.
• Street briefings on stop and search tactics in Bromley.
• Stop and search discussed at Penge Congregational Church during a Question and answer session with the SNT.
• 27 individual lessons on stop and search provided by safer schools officers in Kingston.
• Stop and search discussed during educational visits by Bromley Town SNT to Langley Boy’s school.
• Kidbrooke and Hornfair SNT (Greenwich) ran 5 workshop sessions on stop & search, drugs & knives for the year 6 pupils who were leaving primary school and coming into Kidbrooke Secondary School at the new term. The team also run stop & search workshops/role-plays at the local Samuel Montagu Youth Club.
• Blackheath and Westcombe SNT (Greenwich) ran a number of knife arch operations at their local secondary school (Blackheath Bluecoats) as part of Operation Protect and has invited their SNT Ward panel, local councillors and parents to observe how stop & search is carried out.
• Ferrier SNT (Greenwich) included stop & search and police tactics at presentations/workshops and quiz at 3 of their schools - Wingfield, Holy Family & Riverston - using Knife City DVD as a stimulus for discussion. The team have also run role plays/youth surveys & discussions on stop & search at two of the estates youth clubs - Superkidz and Greenwich Youth For Christ.

8. In addition, the MPS continues to support engagement opportunities offered by the Met-Track scheme (in 13 boroughs) to deliver stop and search messages to young people centred on 'rights and responsibilities'. Furthermore, the Voyage project (Voice Of the Youth And Genuine Empowerment, implemented and run by the Metropolitan Police Black Police Association continued its work with young people over the summer holiday. Approximately 80 young people aged between 13-14 years attended the summer residential which provided a range of workshops tackling various issues of crime and policing. Those attending were drawn from Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Brent, Westminster, Camden, Islington, Newham and Haringey.

Equality and Human Rights Commission report

9. In March 2010, The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published ‘Stop and Think’, a review of the use of stop and search powers in England and Wales. For each force, two measures were looked at: the disproportionality ratio (which tells how much more likely black and Asian people are to be stopped and searched than white people), and the number of ‘excess’ searches (which tells how many more stops and searches are conducted on black and Asian people than would be the case if they were stopped and searched at the same rate as white people).

10. In June 2010 the MPS responded to the EHRC, setting out an explanation on the disproportionality and excess searches in London and highlighted the work that the MPS and MPA had done in relation to disproportionality. The response categorizations include: impact of stop and search, governance and accountability, community engagement, training and development, progress in tackling disparity and factors affecting disparity. The EHRC is currently considering the MPS response.

Next Steps

11. The Next Steps project is an NPIA / Home Office led initiative operating in 3 forces; Merseyside, Dorset and MPS (piloted in Lewisham borough) . It involves formalising a number of activities focused on ‘intelligence led’ use of stop and search. The main tenet of the work is based on the premise that the vast majority of all communities will support the use of the power if forces can demonstrate its value in tackling criminal activity. It has been designed jointly by the Home Office/NPIA and follows identification of good practice nationally. Many of the building blocks of Next Steps have come from initiatives introduced in London, particularly in relation to data gathering, consultation and oversight (both at community and Authority level). The MPS remains a key partner in developing Next Steps for national roll out. A Next Steps project board has been formed and Authority Members will be kept informed of progress through MPS officer involvement.

Crime and Security Act 2010

12. The Crime and Security Bill has now been made an Act of Parliament and is due to commence on 1st January 2011. It attempts to reduce the bureaucracy associated with recording stop and search. The requirement to record a persons name (or a note otherwise recording their description) and a description of any vehicle searched is repealed. The requirement to record whether anything was found and whether any injury or damage was caused is also repealed. In cases where the search results in a person being arrested and taken to a police station, the record (of the initial search) will be required to be made as part of the person’s custody record rather than on a separate form.

13. The NPIA and Home Office recognise that the new legislation may cause significant difficulties to implement, particularly the custody recording of searches; this is due to different databases used by forces and the lead in timescales for making software changes. Furthermore, the Home Office and NPIA advise there may yet be revisions to the Crime and Security Act prior to 1st January 2011. Implications will be discussed by police forces, the NPIA and the Home Office at the next ACPO Police Public Encounters Board on 10th September after which the MPS will consider its response to the legislation changes.

14. The Crime and Security Act 2010 also abolishes the national requirement for the recording of stop and account. However, Forces are permitted to continue to collect ethnicity data where there are local concerns in this area. Again, the MPS will be considering its response in consultation with members and communities.

C. Other organisational and community implications

1. Equalities Impact

Any operational changes as a result of the legislation will be subjected to a full Equalities Impact Assessment. The use of Stop and Search, and Stop and Account in the MPS is directed by Policy and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The aim of the MPS Stops and Searches Policy is to ensure that officers comply with the law, act 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. Additionally, the MPS has strong public accountability and scrutiny mechanisms in relation to stop and search. All SOP’s and data are published and are in the public domain and are subject to regular review by the Stops and Searches Team.

The MPS publishes on the Internet, the Monitoring Mechanism on a monthly basis. This provides each BOCU’s data on stop and search and for the MPS as a whole. 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 BOCU’s against the rest of the MPS.

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

Operation Pennant, a performance framework for stop and search which was introduced in the MPS in 2006 to provide a strategic overview of stop and search, continues to provide London wide scrutiny of stop and search. Disproportionality and arrest rates are scrutinised down to team and individual officer level.

2. Met Forward

There are no Met Forward implications arising directly from this report.

3. Financial Implications

There are no additional financial implications arising directly from this report, however, the implementation of the Crime and Security Act and subsequent updates to computer systems will have significant financial implications for the MPS.

4. Legal Implications

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission have wide ranging powers that are set out in the Equality Act 2006. The EHRC encourage compliance through liaison.

5. Environmental Implications

There are no environmental implications arising directly from this report.

6. Risk Implications

There are no risk implications arising directly from this report.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author(s): Ted Henderson, TPHQ Patrol OCU, MPS

For information contact:

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

Glossary - Police powers

Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 Granted by a Chief Officer where they believe the authority is expedient to prevent acts of terrorism. An authorisation allows an officer in uniform to stop and search a

•  vehicle or persons in or on the vehicle
•  a pedestrian/anything carried by a pedestrian.

(An officer does not require reasonable grounds to carry out this search)

Section 43 Terrorism Act 2000 An officer may stop and search a person whom he reasonably suspects to be a terrorist to discover whether he has in his possession anything which may constitute evidence that he is a terrorist.

(This requires an officer to have reasonable grounds to carry out this search)

Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 Allows senior police officers to authorise constables to stop and search persons in a specific area, either where a serious public order problem is likely to arise or has taken place, or for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments. 

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