Majority of Britons of all racial backgrounds ‘oppose giving police more stop and search powers’
Exclusive: The new study comes as the policing bill is set to become law, writes Nadine White
Britons of all racial backgrounds are against expanding police stop and search powers, a new study says.
More than half of ethnic minority adults (58 per cent) do not agree with expanding the use of this tactic, with 29 per cent backing it.
Opposition is highest among Black Britons, with two thirds (66 per cent) disagreeing and 25 per cent in support.
The figure drops markedly for white Britons, with 48 per cent of respondents to a YouGov survey indicating disapproval and 36 per cent in support.
Adding all ethnicities together sees a slim majority of Britons opposing expansion.
It comes as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is set to become law, after the House of Lords voted the legislation through on Wednesday by 180 to 113. It now awaits royal assent.
The legislation contains a wide-ranging raft of measures aimed at overhauling the criminal justice system, including expanded stop and search powers and allowing officers to conduct stops in the absence of reasonable grounds for suspicion – under a provision known as a Section 60 order – for up to 48 hours.
Official figures show that Black people are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than any other group.
Discussing the YouGov survey, data journalist Isabelle Kirk said: “In the context of the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill proposing an extension of police powers to stop and search, Britons of all racial backgrounds – including white Britons – are more opposed to the idea of expanding these police powers than supportive of it, underlining a broader scepticism of giving the police more authority to search those they don’t suspect of a crime.
“With the government’s own data suggesting that Black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched, it’s unsurprising then that [nearly] half of Black Britons say that the police use the power to stop and search too much, compared to just one in seven white Britons who also say this,” Ms Kirk continued.
“The same divide is apparent when it comes to the policy more broadly, where Black Britons – most likely to have been on the receiving end of stop and search – are the ethnic group most opposed to its use, and white Britons the most supportive.
“Similarly, Britons from ethnic minority backgrounds, and particularly Black Britons, have low confidence in the police’s ability to apply stop and search powers in a way that is fair to them.”
A third of ethnic minority Britons (36 per cent) and 41 per cent of white Britons say the police’s use of stop and search in their local area makes them feel no more or less safe than if they did not have this power.
Similarly, 35 per cent of minority ethnic Britons and 43 per cent of white Britons say the police’s use of stop and search in their local area does not make them feel any more or less confident in the police.
The data is drawn from the responses of 1,826 Black, Asian and minority ethnic and 1,512 white respondents, from a sample surveyed between January and February this year.
In a concession following the Lords backing of the bill on Wednesday, the government agreed a requirement for the home secretary to conduct a review of the new powers within two years of them coming into force.
The policing bill will also enable law enforcement to clamp down on “noisy protests”. Opposing this measure, Labour frontbencher Lord Coaker told peers on Wednesday: “The ‘too noisy’ provision is a nonsense. Protests are about noise.”
Liberal Democrat Lord Paddick, formerly a deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police, added: “Asking the police to anticipate what noise levels a protest that has yet to take place might result in is likely to bring the police into unnecessary and unavoidable conflict with the public, further undermining the trust and confidence the police rely on to be effective.”
Campaigning group Liberty said the bill will either deter people from protesting or “drag them” into the criminal justice system for doing so.
Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK, said the bill’s approval signalled “a dark day for civil liberties in the UK”.
“This deeply authoritarian bill places profound and significant restrictions on the basic right to peacefully protest, and will have a severely detrimental impact on the ability of ordinary people to make their concerns heard,” he added.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for stop and search, deputy assistant commissioner Amanda Pearson, acknowledged that there are significant improvements to be made around the controversial policing tactic.
“We are entrusted with powers on behalf of the public, and as such we must ensure that they are used in a fair and just way that secures trust from all communities,” she said.
“Stop and search, even when done with respect and courtesy, is intrusive and has an impact on people. We recognise that the level of disproportionality in a tactic like stop and search is continuing to damage relations with people from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that we balance tackling crime with building trust and confidence in our communities, and we haven’t always got that balance right with stop and search.”
The NPCC will work with the College of Policing on making improvements following recent recommendations from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), Ms Pearson added.
The Police Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race, set for publication in late spring, is examining disparities affecting Black people working in or interacting with policing, including in police use of stop and search, she explained.