Stop and search gap widens for Black residents

Black people in the area covered by the police force that serves Birmingham are now 3.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, up from 3.1 times in 2024, according to a new annual report.

The figures, discussed by the Police and Crime Panel, have prompted concerns from councillors about why the gap has grown.

The figures

• Black people: 3.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, up from 3.1 times, and 2.3 times more likely to have force used against them, up from 2.1 times
• People of mixed ethnicity: 3.5 times more likely to be stopped and searched, up from 3.3 times, and 1.5 times as likely to have force used against them, down from 1.7 times
• Asian people: 1.9 times more likely to be stopped and searched, up from 1.8 times, and 0.9 times as likely to have force used against them, up from 0.7 times

Questions from councillors

Councillor Hamzah Sheikh asked: "What analysis has been undertaken to understand this? What strategy is in place to reverse it?"

The commissioner's response

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said: "Stop and search must be conducted in a lawful, proportionate and necessary and accountable way."

The commissioner's office set out a number of ways in which stop and search is scrutinised, including:

• ten community oversight panels across the force area
• reviews of body-worn video footage by senior officers
• a Stop and Search Commission, which meets twice a year
• new accountability panels made up of young people
• feedback cards with QR codes, given to people who are stopped

Alethea Fuller, deputy chief executive of the commissioner's office, said officers were reviewing footage of interactions with young Black men aged 17 to 24.

Why it matters

Stop and search allows police to search people for items such as drugs, weapons or stolen property if they have reasonable grounds to suspect they are carrying them. Police say it is an important tool for taking knives and guns off the streets and preventing violence.

But campaigners say that when certain groups are stopped far more often than others, it can damage trust between communities and the police, and leave young people feeling unfairly targeted. Disproportionality in stop and search has been a national concern for many years.

Your rights

If you are stopped and searched, officers should tell you their name and police station, why you have been stopped, what they are looking for and your right to a record of the search. You can ask for a copy of the record. Officers should be polite and respectful, and searches in public should normally be limited to outer clothing.

Anyone unhappy with how they were treated can complain to the force or to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Building trust

Community leaders in Birmingham have called for more openness about how stop and search is used, and for officers to explain their reasons clearly. Body-worn cameras, which record many searches, are seen as an important way of making sure the power is used fairly.

A new chief constable

The figures were published in the same week that Scott Green was confirmed as the force's new Chief Constable. Tackling disproportionality and building trust with communities are expected to be among the issues on his agenda.