Majority ‘stop and searches’ carried out by Merseyside Police are on white

In three out of Yorkshire’s four forces, at least 80 per cent of the stops carried out this year resulted in no further action being taken.

West Yorkshire Police is reported to have the highest proportion in the country of stop and searches that resulted in no further action, with 85 per cent of searches ending without an arrest, summons or other police action.

Only 845 of the searches had a police outcome, while 3,430 led to no further action.

In the West Mercia Police force area, the data shows the most cases involved white people, the highest proportion of people stopped based on population were black or black British people.

West Yorkshire Police has a smaller disparity between the number of white and non-white people stopped. Anyone who is stopped and searched is also entitled to a copy of the form. Every stop and search record is audited by a supervisor to ensure that the search was justified and done in accordance with the law.

It also covers the time of day stops are made.

For the first time, police forces in England and Wales are making detailed data on their use of stop and search powers publicly available on a monthly basis. Per 1,000 residents there were 2.65 stop and searches.

“Last year there were 5,309 stop and searches carried out in Essex by police and there were only 14 complaints”.

“However it is imperative these searches are carried out proportionately and fairly”.

Those aged 18 to 24 were most likely to be stopped, followed by youths.

Nearly every force – 36 out of the 39 that released data, according to an analysis from The Independent – stop more people from ethnic minorities.

Chief Inspector Mark Grange, of North Yorkshire Police’s Operations Command, said: “Stop and search powers are an effective tool in detecting crime, recovering property and arresting offenders”. It is welcome that there is now recognition of the importance of acting on intelligence and carrying the community with you.

Lincolnshire, Humberside and Merseyside were the only forces that did not, according to the data which is broken down by local force areas.

“Although there is still some disproportionality in black and minority ethnic stop and searches”.

Home Secretary Theresa May highlighted previous misuse of police power by officers as motivation behind the new incentive.

The newly published data has been provided by 40 forces across England and Wales, including the British Transport Police.

The figures – which reveal data from January to June – were released yesterday on the summary pages of the police.uk website as part of a Government push towards transparency in policing.

The move is part of a drive by the Government to increase transparency over the controversial tactics. “It is also right that the statistics are published so that the public know and the police can constantly work at getting the balance right between proper use and abuse”.

“If it is not operated in a targeted and proportionate way and if innocent people are stopped and searched for no good reason, it is hugely damaging to the relationship between the police and the public”.

It was designed in partnership with police forces, community groups and young people such as Chat:Bout a young persons group from Nottingham and a stop and search scrutiny group in Avon and Somerset.