Stop and Search: Is it working?

In Northamptonshire just nine per cent of stop and searches resulted in an arrest

By Natalie Bloomer

Between April 2019 and March 2020 Northamptonshire Police conducted 2,667 stop and searches but with just nine per cent of those resulting in an arrest, today we’re asking if the use of these powers is justified.

Background

Most stop and searches can be divided into two categories - the first requires the officer conducting the search to have “reasonable grounds” for doing so, the second known as a no-suspicion search does not require “reasonable grounds” and an inspector can authorise them to be used on anybody within a certain area for a certain period of time. 

After widespread concern about the use of these powers, in 2014 then home secretary Theresa May introduced the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme (BUSSS). The voluntary guidance for police forces required them to meet higher standards before conducting a no-suspicion search. In the years that followed the number of these searches conducted nationally fell by 38 per cent. 

In 2019 current home secretary Priti …