Police stop-and-searches soar

The number of police stop-and-searches rose almost 9 percent in 2006/7 with black people seven times more likely to be quizzed than their white counterparts, figures show.

In all, nearly a million people were stopped and searched by officers in England and Wales, the highest number for seven years, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice.

The figures also revealed that black homicide victims were more likely to have been shot than whites or Asians, with 27 percent of murdered blacks dying in gun-related incidents.

In addition there was a large increase in the number of racist or racially motivated incidents.

The ministry said there were 955,000 stop-and-searches under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) in 2006/7, up almost 9 percent from a year earlier and the highest figure since 1998/9. The most common reason for a search was drugs.

Of those stopped, 16 percent were black and 8 percent were Asian. Relative to the general population that meant black people were seven times more likely to be stopped than whites, and Asians twice as likely.

There was also a large rise in the number of "stop-and-account", where people are asked by an officer to explain their actions, behaviour or presence in an area. This was up 33.6 percent from 1.4 million to 1.87 million.

There was less discrepancy between ethnic groups in this category, with black people twice as likely to be stopped as white people. The rate for Asians compared to whites was broadly the same.

But the figures showed that black people were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested than whites, slightly up from the previous year, and were less likely to receive a mere caution.

The use of stop-and-search has caused resentment in the past, with ethnic groups claiming they are victimised by police.

"As a service we continue to work hard to understand the issues behind the statistics," said Chief Constable Craig Mackey, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) spokesman on stop-and-search.

"Figures that point out disparity between black and white with respect to arrest rates, victims of crime, and stop-and-search do not provide any indication of the reasons for significant differences.

"ACPO supports the proper use of stop-and-search, while recognising that it continues to attract comment and concern with minority communities."

The report also said the number of racially motivated incidents rose to 184,000 in 2006/7 from 139,000 the year before, adding that most racial incidents still went unreported.

During 2006/7, 61,262 racist incidents were recorded by the police, up 3.7 percent, and there were 42,551 racially or religiously aggravated offences, a 2.6 percent increase.

In contrast, the number of stop-and-searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 fell from 45,000 to 37,000 in 2006/7, with over a third of police forces not using the power at all.

However, there was an increase in the number of people searched using anti-terrorism powers in nine areas including London where such searches were up 11 percent.