Stop and search
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- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity over time to 2019 section
- 5. Navigate to By ethnicity over time from 2019 section
- 6. Navigate to By ethnicity and area section
- 7. Navigate to By ethnicity and legislation section
- 8. Navigate toData sources section
- 9. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in England and Wales between April 2020 and March 2021, there were 697,405 stop and searches in England and Wales (excluding vehicle searches)
- there were 12.4 stop and searches for every 1,000 people, down from 24.8 per 1,000 people in the year ending March 2010
- there were 7.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 white people, compared with 52.6 for every 1,000 black people
- almost half of all stop and searches took place in the Metropolitan Police force area in London
- there were 38.1 stop and searches for every 1,000 people in London, the highest rate out of all police force areas
- London had the highest stop and search rates for all ethnic groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows:
- the number of stop and searches for different ethnic groups in England and Wales
- how many stop and searches there were for every 1,000 people in each ethnic group (the ‘rate’)
Stop and search rates are given to the nearest whole number.
Unrounded data was used to work out stop and search rates and differences between ethnic groups
Not included in the data
The data does not include vehicle searches because ethnicity information is not collected during these searches.
The ethnic groups used in the data
The data for April 2019 to March 2021 uses the 18 ethnic groups from the 2011 Census.
Data from April 2009 to March 2019 uses the 16 ethnic groups from the 2001 Census.
Due to the different ethnic group categories used in the 2 most recent years of data, they are not comparable with previous years. This means the time series data only includes the years from April 2009 to March 2019. A separate comparison has been created for April 2019 to March 2021.
If someone does not give their ethnicity, it is recorded as ‘unreported’. Stop and searches with unreported ethnicity are included in the rate for ‘All’ ethnic groups.
In the 11 years to March 2021, the percentage of stop and searches with unreported ethnicity went up from 5% to 19%.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
Someone who is stopped and searched is usually asked for their ethnicity. The circumstances of a stop and search may affect the accuracy of this information.
This can be seen by the high rate of stop and searches for the ‘other’ categories within most ethnic groups. For example, 45% of stop and searches of black people in the year ending March 2021 were assigned to the black other ethnic group. The percentage for the Asian other ethnic group is similarly high (42%).
Stop and searches are not spread evenly across England and Wales. For example, the Metropolitan Police made 77% of all searches of black people in the year ending March 2021. National rates are influenced by the higher number of incidents involving certain ethnic groups in certain police force areas.
National rates are an average of all police force areas and may not reflect the rates in any individual police force areas.
Population data from the 2011 Census is used to work out the rate per 1,000 people in each area. Read more about the problems using Census data.
You can read more about interpreting stop and search statistics, including why we no longer compare ethnic groups using relative likelihoods (such as ‘5 times as likely’) for England and Wales as a whole.
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- the number of stop and searches by ethnicity and police force area
- stop and search rates rounded to 2 decimal places
- the number of stop and searches with unreported ethnicity
- stop and search data for the years April 2006 to March 2009
- the number of stop and searches by legislation over time
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Rate of stop and search | Number of stop and searches |
|---|---|---|
| All | 12.4 | 697,405 |
| Asian | 17.8 | 75,001 |
| Bangladeshi | 28.0 | 12,522 |
| Chinese | 1.6 | 648 |
| Indian | 6.0 | 8,505 |
| Pakistani | 19.3 | 21,706 |
| Asian other | 37.8 | 31,620 |
| Black | 52.6 | 98,010 |
| Black African | 32.8 | 32,498 |
| Black Caribbean | 35.6 | 21,201 |
| Black other | 158.0 | 44,311 |
| Mixed | 17.5 | 21,423 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 6.7 | 2,297 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 13.9 | 2,306 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 15.9 | 6,777 |
| Mixed other | 34.6 | 10,043 |
| White | 7.5 | 359,332 |
| White British | 6.6 | 299,748 |
| White Irish | 8.4 | 4,442 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 10.5 | 608 |
| White other | 21.9 | 54,534 |
| Other | 20.4 | 11,486 |
| Arab | 1.9 | 432 |
| Any other | 33.2 | 11,054 |
| Unknown | NA | 132,153 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Stop and search By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
- there were 697,405 stop and searches in England and Wales between April 2020 and March 2021, a rate of 12.4 per 1,000 people
- there were 7.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 white people, compared with 52.6 for every 1,000 black people
- there were 17.5 stop and searches per 1,000 people with mixed ethnicity, and 17.8 per 1,000 Asian people
- black Caribbean, black other and Asian other ethnic groups had the highest rates of stop and search out of all 18 individual ethnic groups
- the black other group had the highest rate overall with 158 stop and searches per 1,000 people – this group includes people who did not identify as black African or black Caribbean, or were not recorded as such
4. By ethnicity over time to 2019
| Ethnicity | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | |
| All | 24.8 | 23.1 | 21.1 | 18.0 | 16.0 | 9.6 | 6.8 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 6.7 |
| Asian | 38.6 | 36.7 | 32.4 | 24.2 | 19.3 | 11.1 | 9.3 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 10.9 |
| Bangladeshi | 70.0 | 64.8 | 55.4 | 36.7 | 30.7 | 15.8 | 16.0 | 12.4 | 13.4 | 21.5 |
| Indian | 23.9 | 20.8 | 16.9 | 11.8 | 8.4 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.8 |
| Pakistani | 37.7 | 36.6 | 34.0 | 28.0 | 22.2 | 12.9 | 10.1 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 10.0 |
| Asian other | 48.1 | 48.5 | 44.2 | 33.1 | 27.6 | 16.2 | 13.7 | 12.5 | 12.7 | 18.4 |
| Black | 117.5 | 112.6 | 95.4 | 65.4 | 54.7 | 34.2 | 31.4 | 29.5 | 29.2 | 37.9 |
| Black African | 72.7 | 70.5 | 59.7 | 40.3 | 34.4 | 21.7 | 20.3 | 18.6 | 18.6 | 24.4 |
| Black Caribbean | 153.3 | 139.4 | 111.5 | 74.2 | 59.3 | 35.9 | 31.4 | 28.2 | 26.4 | 31.2 |
| Black other | 199.5 | 204.7 | 187.0 | 135.2 | 116.8 | 74.4 | 70.8 | 70.8 | 72.6 | 100.1 |
| Mixed | 34.8 | 30.7 | 28.7 | 23.4 | 20.0 | 12.5 | 10.2 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 10.7 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 12.4 | 9.4 | 8.7 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.7 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 28.0 | 23.8 | 21.4 | 17.1 | 15.5 | 9.6 | 8.1 | 7.0 | 7.2 | 9.2 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 49.2 | 44.4 | 38.4 | 31.5 | 27.0 | 16.7 | 12.9 | 10.6 | 10.1 | 11.6 |
| Mixed other | 44.0 | 39.5 | 41.9 | 34.3 | 27.6 | 17.8 | 15.4 | 13.5 | 14.0 | 18.3 |
| White | 18.6 | 17.3 | 16.2 | 14.7 | 13.3 | 7.8 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| White British | 17.3 | 16.2 | 15.1 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 7.3 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 3.5 |
| White Irish | 19.2 | 18.4 | 17.6 | 15.5 | 13.6 | 7.8 | 6.3 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 5.3 |
| White other | 41.2 | 35.8 | 34.9 | 30.9 | 27.5 | 16.5 | 13.4 | 10.3 | 8.5 | 11.7 |
| Other including Chinese | 21.0 | 19.2 | 16.3 | 12.9 | 12.1 | 7.7 | 5.8 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 6.8 |
| Chinese | 12.8 | 8.1 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Any other | 26.8 | 27.0 | 23.8 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 10.6 | 8.7 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 10.5 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time to 2019’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time to 2019’ (CSV)
Summary of Stop and search By ethnicity over time to 2019 Summary
The data does not include the latest two years of data (April 2019-March 2021) . This is because different ethnic group categories were used, meaning data is not comparable with previous years.
The data shows that, in the 2 years to March 2019:
- the national stop and search rate went up for the first time since 2009 to 2010, from 5.3 to 6.7 stop and searches per 1,000 people
- rates of stop and search went up in every ethnic group
Between April 2009 and March 2019:
- the national rate went down from 24.8 to 6.7 per 1,000 people
- the rate for white people was lower than the national rate in every year
- the rates for the Asian, black, and mixed ethnic groups were higher than the national rate in every year
- the Chinese and mixed white and Asian ethnic groups had the lowest rates out of all 16 ethnic groups in most years
- the black Caribbean and black Other groups consistently had the highest rates
5. By ethnicity over time from 2019
| Ethnicity | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
|---|---|---|
| Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | |
| All | 10.6 | 12.8 |
| Asian | 15.4 | 18.7 |
| Bangladeshi | 29.3 | 30.2 |
| Chinese | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Indian | 5.2 | 6.2 |
| Pakistani | 16.4 | 21.0 |
| Asian other | 30.3 | 38.7 |
| Black | 54.1 | 54.2 |
| Black African | 34.1 | 33.8 |
| Black Caribbean | 38.9 | 36.5 |
| Black other | 157.0 | 163.8 |
| Mixed | 15.8 | 18.2 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 5.2 | 6.9 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 13.1 | 14.5 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 16.0 | 16.5 |
| Mixed other | 29.3 | 35.9 |
| White | 6.1 | 7.7 |
| White British | 5.4 | 6.9 |
| White Irish | 7.3 | 8.8 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 3.5 | 10.7 |
| White other | 19.4 | 22.4 |
| Other | 17.8 | 21.2 |
| Arab | 0.6 | 1.9 |
| Any other | 29.4 | 34.1 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time from 2019’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time from 2019’ (CSV)
Summary of Stop and search By ethnicity over time from 2019 Summary
This data only includes the years April 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to March 2021. This is because different ethnic group categories were used, meaning data is not comparable with previous years. Additionally, this data does not include Greater Manchester who had incomplete data for 2019/20.
The data shows that between April 2019 and March 2021:
- the national stop and search rate went up from 10.6 to 12.8 stop and searches per 1,000 people
- rates went up in every ethnic group except the black Caribbean and black African groups where they fell, and in the Chinese ethnic group, where they stayed broadly the same
- the rate for white people was lower than the national rate in both years
- the rates for the Asian, black, and mixed ethnic groups were higher than the national rate in both years
- the Chinese and Arab ethnic groups had the lowest rates out of all 18 ethnic groups in both years
- the black other group consistently had the highest rates
6. By ethnicity and area
| Police force area | All | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | Rate per 1,000 | |
| All - including BTP | 12.4 | 17.8 | 52.6 | 17.5 | 7.5 | 20.4 |
| Avon & Somerset | 6.4 | 7.4 | 27.8 | 9.4 | 4.1 | 9.8 |
| Bedfordshire | 6.3 | 9.5 | 11.9 | 7.1 | 3.6 | 8.5 |
| British Transport Police | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* |
| Cambridgeshire | 4.1 | 6.6 | 18.9 | 6.9 | 2.7 | 11.5 |
| Cheshire | 5.7 | 2.4 | 38.6 | 6.2 | 4.6 | 16.9 |
| Cleveland | 10.9 | 11.7 | 26.3 | 13.9 | 8.8 | 24.1 |
| Cumbria | 6.7 | 15.5 | 29.4 | 7.2 | 6.0 | 13.3 |
| Derbyshire | 2.1 | 5.1 | 13.8 | 5.6 | 1.5 | 4.2 |
| Devon & Cornwall | 4.8 | 3.4 | 39.0 | 6.7 | 3.5 | 7.2 |
| Dorset | 3.6 | 4.4 | 55.5 | 9.9 | 2.8 | 12.7 |
| Durham | 3.7 | 3.4 | 8.5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 6.5 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 6.4 | 7.4 | 26.9 | 10.7 | 5.9 | 0.0 |
| Essex | 15.0 | 20.1 | 54.1 | 24.4 | 11.2 | 19.9 |
| Gloucestershire | 5.1 | 5.5 | 28.7 | 15.9 | 4.3 | 14.6 |
| Greater Manchester | 4.3 | 5.0 | 12.4 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 4.6 |
| Gwent | 7.9 | 19.4 | 45.8 | 21.1 | 6.2 | 25.1 |
| Hampshire | 6.7 | 7.0 | 45.7 | 13.8 | 5.3 | 17.7 |
| Hertfordshire | 8.5 | 10.3 | 26.8 | 13.9 | 5.9 | 20.9 |
| Humberside | 7.4 | 10.4 | 36.7 | 12.3 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| Kent | 8.0 | 8.1 | 39.6 | 15.4 | 6.2 | 12.5 |
| Lancashire | 7.2 | 10.7 | 22.9 | 6.8 | 5.0 | 4.4 |
| Leicestershire | 6.8 | 4.2 | 19.9 | 6.4 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Lincolnshire | 4.7 | 10.4 | 41.8 | 10.2 | 3.9 | 26.3 |
| London, City of | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* | N/A* |
| Merseyside | 34.7 | 16.1 | 61.0 | 29.2 | 30.5 | 29.9 |
| Metropolitan Police | 38.1 | 29.4 | 69.5 | 26.3 | 20.4 | 30.5 |
| Norfolk | 8.6 | 7.8 | 51.9 | 13.7 | 7.2 | 25.7 |
| North Wales | 9.0 | 5.8 | 20.0 | 7.3 | 8.3 | 8.8 |
| North Yorkshire | 4.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 10.5 | 3.9 | 9.3 |
| Northamptonshire | 3.9 | 6.3 | 13.8 | 7.3 | 2.9 | 7.3 |
| Northumbria | 3.5 | 7.1 | 11.1 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 1.3 |
| Nottinghamshire | 4.4 | 5.9 | 14.0 | 6.6 | 2.9 | 5.4 |
| South Wales | 12.8 | 18.7 | 64.1 | 21.7 | 10.5 | 29.2 |
| South Yorkshire | 12.4 | 22.2 | 29.0 | 13.8 | 9.3 | 10.3 |
| Staffordshire | 5.1 | 12.1 | 30.1 | 12.6 | 4.0 | 18.7 |
| Suffolk | 7.2 | 5.1 | 43.2 | 15.0 | 5.5 | 25.5 |
| Surrey | 6.5 | 7.4 | 35.2 | 9.1 | 5.1 | 6.7 |
| Sussex | 5.4 | 5.7 | 47.8 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 10.2 |
| Thames Valley | 8.3 | 11.5 | 20.9 | 14.4 | 5.0 | 7.2 |
| Warwickshire | 4.4 | 8.2 | 42.1 | 12.3 | 3.2 | 7.8 |
| West Mercia | 4.8 | 19.7 | 52.9 | 11.0 | 3.8 | 13.7 |
| West Midlands | 8.6 | 13.7 | 20.3 | 18.8 | 5.2 | 0.6 |
| West Yorkshire | 9.1 | 18.6 | 19.0 | 15.7 | 5.7 | 7.6 |
| Wiltshire | 3.3 | 3.9 | 18.6 | 4.6 | 2.7 | 1.6 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Stop and search By ethnicity and area Summary
The data shows that, in the year ending March 2021:
- the Metropolitan Police in London made almost half (45%) of all stop and searches in England and Wales
- there were 38.1 stop and searches for every 1,000 people in London, compared with 8.1 per 1,000 people in the rest of England and Wales
- there were 69.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 black people in London, compared with 28.8 per 1,000 black people in the rest of England and Wales
- London had the highest rates for all ethnic groups except for the mixed and white ethnic groups (where the rates were highest in Merseyside)
- black people in Dorset were stopped and searched at a rate nearly 20 times higher than white people – the biggest relative difference between white people and another ethnic group
- in West Mercia black people were stopped and searched at a rate nearly 14 times higher than white people, and in Warwickshire at a rate over 13 times higher
- the rate for Asian people in West Mercia was over 5 times higher than the rate for white people
- the rate for people with mixed ethnicity was nearly 4 times the rate for white people in Warwickshire, Derbyshire, and Gloucestershire
- Derbyshire and Wiltshire had the lowest overall rates
7. By ethnicity and legislation
| All | Section 1 | Section 60 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | All % of stops under this legislation | All Number of stop and searches | Section 1 % of stops under this legislation | Section 1 Number of stop and searches | Section 60 % of stops under this legislation | Section 60 Number of stop and searches |
| Asian | 17.8 | 75,001 | 17.6 | 74,028 | 0.2 | 973 |
| Black | 52.6 | 98,010 | 51.6 | 96,260 | 0.9 | 1,750 |
| Mixed | 17.5 | 21,423 | 17.2 | 21,067 | 0.3 | 356 |
| White | 7.5 | 359,332 | 7.4 | 356,060 | 0.1 | 3,272 |
| Other | 20.4 | 11,486 | 20.0 | 11,272 | 0.4 | 214 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 132,153 | N/A* | 129,592 | N/A* | 2,561 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and legislation’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and legislation’ (CSV)
Summary of Stop and search By ethnicity and legislation Summary
This data covers stop and search of individuals under the following acts:
- section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (and associated legislation including section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971) – the police can stop and search someone they think is carrying items like stolen property or drugs
- section 44/47A of the Terrorism Act 2000 – the police can stop and search someone if they suspect an act of terrorism is about to take place (after authorisation by a senior officer)
- section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 – the police can stop and search someone within an authorised area to prevent violence involving weapons
The data shows that, between April 2020 and March 2021:
- 99% of all stop and searches in England and Wales were under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act
- 1% of stop and searches were under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act
- no stop and searches were conducted under section 44/47A of the Terrorism Act, so data isn’t included in the chart and table
- there were 9,126 stop and searches under section 60
- 3,272 section 60 stop and searches involved white people, the highest number out of all ethnic groups for this legislation (35.9% of all section 60 stops)
- 1,750 section 60 stop and searches involved black people (19.2% of all section 60 stops)
- 2,561 section 60 stop and searches involved people with unknown ethnicity (28.1% of all section 60 stops)
8. Data sources
Source
Police powers and procedures: England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2021.
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Home Office
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Figures on arrests and stop and search reported to the Home Office are used to create greater transparency in the use of police powers in England and Wales. They enhance accountability by enabling the public to monitor police forces at a national and local level.
The data is used to form a national picture of the trends in arrests and stop and search. It informs discussions about crime, policing and criminal justice in government and academia, and ensures the public are accurately informed.
9. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, police force area, legislation type, number of stop and searches, rate of stop and search, proportion of stop and searches, population estimates