Hampshire police carry out thousands more stop and searches but make fewer arrests

StopWatch UK said declining arrest rates across England and Wales suggest that relations between the police and the public are deteriorating.

Home Office data shows officers in Hampshire used stop and search powers 12,782 times in the year to March – up from 9,211 the year before.

Despite this rise, the proportion of searches which led to an arrest fell from 16 per cent to 12 per cent over this period.

This means almost 2,000 people were stopped per day on average last year, with figures peaking in mid-May 2020, when there were almost 3,000 searches each day.

StopWatch UK said the vast majority of searches cause more problems than they solve.

Habib Kadiri, research and policy manager at the police monitoring organisation, said a fall in arrest rates reflects fears that police-community relations are backsliding.

The figures also show that across England and Wales, black people were significantly more likely to be searched than white people, though slightly less so than the year before.

In Hampshire, they were 7.4 times more likely to be stopped, compared to 9.2 in 2019-20.

Mr Kadiri added: ‘What is exceptional is how racial disparities persisted even during a global pandemic, proving that the police never stopped working tirelessly to overpolice people of colour.

‘We simply would not accept this of any other emergency service profession. The police must do better.’

In Hampshire, 70 per cent of stop and searches were drug-related – up from 62 per cent in 2019-20, and also a record high.

Dr Laura Garius, policy lead for Release, which comprises experts on drug laws, said black and other ethnic minority individuals are being disproportionately targeted, despite drug use being no higher among these groups than among the white population.

She added: ‘The declining find and arrest rates are further proof that these powers are over-used, ineffective, and harmful to black and brown communities – in particular, black men – as well as those living in lower-income areas.’

Hampshire police said stop and search was an ‘important’ tool in community policing and that all searches were carried out in accordance with national guidelines.

A spokesman said: ‘Policing is complex and challenging, and for these powers to be used effectively, and the confidence of our communities to be retained, it is important that they are used in the right way, and are effectively scrutinised both within the constabulary and independently.’

The force added it was taking part in national research to look at the ‘disproportionality of arrest rates between black and white people. ’

The Home Office added: ‘No one should be targeted for stop and search because of their race and there are extensive safeguards in place to prevent this.’

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