Black people eight times more likely to be stopped and searched in Essex

Earlier this month, the new Home Secretary Priti Patel announced a nationwide extension of a scheme expanding police powers when it comes to stop and searches.

It will allow police to stop and search someone when they believe a crime may – rather than will – be committed.

Ms Patel says stop and search “works”, but race equality groups have condemned the decision, saying stop and search disproportionately targets black and ethnic minorities.

In an open letter to the the Home Secretary, a coalition of 20 race equality organisations expressed grave concerns with the new scheme.

They said: “Home Secretary Patel’s claims that ‘stop and search’ tactics are the foremost way to curtail serious youth violence are erroneous at best and disingenuous at worst.

“The latest announcements by the Home Secretary represent regressive and counterproductive policing policy and cheap political point scoring.

“Deliberately or not, the Section 60 proposals are too often discriminatory, inflammatory, ineffectual in reducing serious violent crime, and ultimately alienating to a generation of young children and adults that are from black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) heritage.”

Statistics released by the Home Office reveal that Essex Police stopped and searched black people in our county 442 times in 2017-18.

It meant that black people had a one in 90 chance of being stopped and searched in Essex in 2017-18.

In comparison, white people were searched 2,328 times over the same period, giving them a one in 724 chance of being stopped and searched.

That makes black people eight times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

The fact that certain ethnicities continue to be more likely to be targeted by stop and search in our area comes despite pressure from the government to close that gap.

In 2014, police forces across the country agreed to reforms that were intended to eliminate discrimination in stop and search.

That being said, the gap in Essex is not the worst in the country.

Across England and Wales, black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, which is the biggest gap on record.

Black people were by far the most disproportionately stopped and searched ethnic group across the country, and the same is true in Essex.

However, people of mixed heritage and Asian people in our county were both also twice as likely to be stopped and searched by police as white people in 2017-18.

When the figures were first released in October last year, Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “It is essential that stop and search is used in an intelligence-led way.

“As the latest Home Office figures demonstrate, race disproportionality in the use of stop and search is still a significant issue.

“This is about trust and threatens relationships between police and the communities they are there to serve.

“We see no mention of race equality and no reference to improving services for ethnic minority groups in any Police and Crime Plan in England and Wales.

“We need police forces, the Home Office and police and crime commissioners to make clear they take this responsibility seriously and tell us how they will engage effectively with ethnically diverse communities.”

Essex Police assistant chief constable Paul Wells said stop and search was a valuable tool, but that the force understood it was an “intrusive power” and that it has an impact on individuals and communities.

“This is why we keep its use under continual review to ensure we are using it proportionately, professionally and legitimately,” he added.

“Policing is a profession in which we are always learning, and we continue to seek the guidance and opinion of those in our independent advisory groups, and key figures within our communities, to ensure that we are carrying out these searches in a proportionate way.

“We recognise that as a proportion of the population, the number of people searched who are from an ethnic minority background is disproportionately higher when compared with 2011 census data and we know the make up of our communities in Essex has changed since this data was compiled.

“Whilst we appreciate that the 2011 census data may not accurately reflect current population figures, we know that in the 12 months between March 2017 and 2018 we have reduced the likelihood of BAME being stopped from 4.3 to 3.4 people – despite increasing the number of stop and searches in the county.”

He said the majority of Essex Police’s searches are led by intelligence.

“Teams like Operation Raptor, who work to disrupt drug dealing and county lines, and initiatives like Operation Sceptre, which tackles knife crime, will often use stop and search as an effective procedure to take drugs and weapons off of our streets and protect the public of Essex,” he added.

“We have used Section 60 powers twice this year. The most recent took place in Canvey between Wednesday, 14 August and Friday, 16 August, and was in response to five significant incidents of knife crime in the space of eight weeks.

“We carried out 132 stop and searches throughout the operation, with 10 people being brought into custody for questioning on suspicion of various offences. The feedback from the public was overwhelmingly positive, and I hope that further operations will be as well-received in the future.

“Whenever we take part in stop and search operations, we ensure that our officers follow national guidance and legislation.

“We also invite members of the public to join officers on ride-a-longs and a scrutiny panel of members of the public who review stop and search forms and body-worn video footage and give feedback to the officers involved.”