MPA to scrutinise MPS performance and practice in Stop and Search

07/03
24 January 2003

The Metropolitan Police Authority has agreed to conduct a scrutiny into the Metropolitan Police Service’s performance and practice in using stop and search across the capital.

Today’s Co-ordination and Policing Committee agreed the scrutiny’s remit and approved a timeframe of six months, beginning this February.

Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, said:

“The use of stop and search remains one of the most contentious policing practices for London’s black and ethnic minority communities. The use of stop and search affects these communities disproportionately and engenders a perception of unfairness that both threatens the acknowledged effectiveness of stop and search as a policing tool and, just as importantly, adversely impacts on trust and confidence in the police.“

The scrutiny will be overseen by the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board (EODB), the MPA committee responsible for matters relating to equal opportunity and diversity issues, and will concentrate on four key aspects of stop and search that previous studies have not explored. These are:

• Disproportionality and profiling - a critical review of disproportionality in stop and search, seeking answers to difficult questions such as whether the consistently high levels of disproportionality in the MPS stop and search data are linked to the possible use of profiling of black and minority ethnic people within the MPS;
• Use of stop and search data and policing intelligence - a critical look at the use that is made of the current stop and search data to inform police intelligence on key policing initiatives such as street crime, burglary, drug crime and others;
• Cost effectiveness of stop and search - an investigation of the cost-effectiveness of stop search in financial terms (as an activity) and the cost to public confidence, considering whether the cost effectiveness of stop and search is equal to the value that it contributes to policing by consent; and
• Public engagement and information - identifying good practice models within the MPS. Some boroughs, such as Lambeth and Westminster, already use stop and search data to engage and inform local community organisations and groups, effectively utilising the data as a means of engendering trust and developing confidence in policing performance.

Cecile Wright, Chair of the (EODB), said:

“The MPS’s own figures for July–September 2002 indicate that black and ethnic minority Londoners were 4 times more likely to be searched by the police than white people in the capital. This is of deep concern to the MPA and has resulted in a state of historical distrust and levels of disengagement that especially hampers our objective to recruit more people from black and minority ethnic communities into the police service.

“Our scrutiny will focus on four key aspects of stop and search which have not previously been researched or explored and will add to existing research. Detailed investigation of these areas will contribute significantly to addressing longstanding and unresolved issues surrounding police practice and use of stop and search.”

Notes to editors

1. The scrutiny’s methodology will include desk research, interviews and evidential hearings, quantitative data analysis, questionnaires and the independent evaluation of the MPS Diversity training.
2. The prime function of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board is to lead on corporate policies and other matters pertaining to equal opportunities and diversity, including stop and search.
3. A key function of the MPA is securing continuous improvement in policing services provided by the MPS and regularly monitoring performance. In June 2001 the MPA’s Professional Standards and Performance Monitoring Committee (PSPM) agreed that it should extend its performance monitoring capacity by setting up a scrutiny process, to be conducted by sub-groups of MPA members. The Authority’s first scrutiny, ‘Rape Investigation and Victim Care’, was published in April 2002. The second scrutiny, ‘Metropolitan Police Service Contribution to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships’, will be published shortly.

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