CAR STOP AND SEARCH REPORT



| |2014 |

| | |

| | |

| |NORTHAMPTONSHIRE RIGHTS AND EQUALITY |

| |COUNCIL |

|CAR STOP AND SEARCH REVISTED REPORT |

|NOVEMBER 2014 |

Northamptonshire REC’s vision is to challenge and eradicate discrimination (both personal and institutional) and prejudice or hostility in all its forms; so that all Northamptonshire’s diverse communities and citizens can enjoy peace, achieve their full potential and live free from injustice. We aim for a socially cohesive society in which diversity and human rights are recognised, celebrated and valued.

In brief, we campaign for social justice in Northamptonshire in the context of the wider agenda for equalities and human rights.

We will undertake this work regardless of race, colour, religion, disability, age, sexuality, transgender status or gender.

To do this we:

- support and represent individual victims of discrimination

- support victims of hate incidents and monitor hate incidents

- raise awareness of the rights of individuals not to experience discrimination and to have their human rights upheld.

A Company limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No: 04734851

A Registered Charity No: 1097767

Web Site:

twitter @Northantsrec

Facebook Northantsrec

Main/Northampton Office: c/o Northampton College, Booth Lane, Northampton NN3 3RF. Tel: 01604 400808

Wellingborough Office: Azuka, Places for People, 67 Elsden Road, Wellingborough NN8 1QD.Tel: 01933 229819

Kettering Office

c/o Kettering Borough Council, Bowling Green Road NN15 7QX.

This report and the research that was undertaken to create it was funded by Stopwatch c/o Release, Ferguson House, 5th Floor 124 -128 City Road, London EC1V 2NJ Tel: (+44) 0207 324 3533 Registered Charity No: 801118

Research Proposal

1 . Introduction – what is the area of research/topics that you are looking into? Why have you chosen this topic(s) and why do they interest you?

The Group have decided that car stop searches in Wellingborough specifically, and in Northamptonshire overall is the main type of stop searches that they believe are disproportionately used to target young men, and young black men in particular by the police. With most stop searches undertaken with pedestrians, police can only stop when they believe that they have reasonable ground to stop people. People in cars can be stopped under the Road Traffic Act. There is no requirement for reasonable grounds to be halted in the road and questioned. The police have powers to ask questions, to demand the production of driving licences and insurance documents, to impose a breathalyzer test and to inspect the vehicle for mechanical faults. These stop have not generally been included in the category of 'stop and search' (on which figures are gathered by the Ministry of Justice) as they do not include a power to search the driver or passengers. If an officer proceeds to search individuals or the vehicle for prohibited objects then my understanding is that it would then have become a stop and search requiring 'reasonable grounds'.

2. Hypothesis – Do you have a proposed theory about what you might find out in your research?

Yes, it is believed by the Group that police officers use car searches as an excuse to stop and search young people. It is believed that young black men are disproportionately stop and searched more than other groups of young men due to racial profiling, and/or racial discrimination, and this is reflected in more car stops and searches.

3. Methodology – how are you going to carry out your research? What method(s) have you used? Why do you think that this is the best method(s) to use for your research – does it ‘test’ your hypothesis? Do you think that you might encounter any problems/difficulties when carrying out your research, if so, why/what?

The research will be carried out using a paper survey which the Group have identified relevant questions to ask. The questionnaire will be distributed by the Group amongst family, friends, and peers, who will complete the questionnaire and upon its completion the person being questioned will receive a £3.00 gift vouchers for participating in the survey. The Group have spoken potentially about also doing some more in depth face-to-face interviews with individuals to get their take about the impact and implications around car searches.

4. Aims – What is the aim of your research? What do you hope to find out? What do you hope to do with your findings after you have finished your research – think of policy/political implications – who do you want to see it?

The aim of the research is to establish whether young people’s perceptions around car stops are founded. These include:

• that specific groups (young drivers, drivers with young passengers, young black drivers) believe that they are stopped disproportionately).

• that those stopped and searched in cars are not treated with respect.

• local people believe that people from the community should be involved in training the police to improve their practice.

If this is correct then this information will be shared with the police in order to establish if this can be measured, recorded, and monitored, and implementing methods to reduce disproportionate stops and searches. The Group want to produce literature to help inform people about their rights around the stop and search of cars in Northamptonshire.

Background

The Group have read the analysis of the earlier stop and search Questionnaire in the Stop and Search Report carried out by Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council. In the report, 80% of respondents to the questionnaire who have been stopped have reported that the police have not provided a receipt of the search. This receipt is used by the police to evidence and record the search. This situation makes the local force vulnerable to the allegation that searches where no receipt has been issued will not be recorded on police systems. The publication of this has raised doubts by a number of stakeholders in the community that the number of stops published by the police is an accurate reflection of the stops that have been undertaken. There are situations where a record will not be made/offered to the person being stopped and searched. There are some examples in the legislation below:

“exceptional circumstances which make this wholly impracticable e.g. in situations involving public disorder or when the recording officer’s presence is urgently required elsewhere)”.

Or

“An officer is not required to provide a copy of the full record or a receipt at the time if they are called to an incident of higher priority.”

Allegations of high numbers of stops and searches not being recorded by the police is an issue of concern. The young people’s main interest is the reduction of stop searches, but also about the project empowering them and others into holding the police accountable for their actions.

For this reason the development of a tick box leaflet that will allow the person being stopped to record the interaction and then send the information on to Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council for monitoring of specific police officers who disproportionately stop and search young black men, will be a key focus of later work.

Significant Findings from Research

1. 106 individuals were surveyed of whom 46 (43%) said that they had been stopped and searched.

Respondents experiences

2. Of these 46 respondents, 56% said they had been stopped and searched in their car had only been stopped and searched once in their car. 15.2% had been stopped twice. 10.9% had stopped and searched 3 times. 10.9% had been stopped and searched in their car more than 4 times. (See Appendix 1, Fig.1)

3. The majority of respondents were stopped and searched in their car in Northampton or Wellingborough followed by Kettering Corby East Northants and Daventry. Some respondents stated that they were stopped in more than one location.

4. 80% of respondents said that more than one police officer was present at the time of the stop and search of the car.

5. Out of the 45 respondents who answered the question about why they were being stopped and searched, the majority (35) said they were given the reason why they were stopped and searched, and 10 said that they were not given a reason for the search.

6. 69.6% of respondents said that they did ask for a reason why they were stopped and searched; only 30.4% did not ask for the reason of the stop and search.

7. 23.9% of respondents said that the police officer(s) who stopped and searched them said that they didn’t have to give a reason for the stop and search. (Fig.2)

8. Of those respondents who were given a reason the majority (11) were told that they were being stopped because of suspicions around drugs, (7) were told they were being stopped for speeding/recklessness/dangerous driving, (4) for stolen property, (4) for damage to their vehicle, (5) belief that the car was stolen. (Fig.3)

9. 37% of respondents could not remember if the officer(s) identified themselves. 32.6% of respondents said that officer(s) did identify themselves. 30.4% said that officer(s) did not identify themselves.

10. 56.5% of respondents said that police officer(s) did not identify their police station. (Fig.4)

11. 37% of respondents said that they did receive a form either on paper or an electronic device was filled out. 34.8% said that they could not remember, 28.3% of respondents said that they did not receive a form and that no electronic device was filled out in their presence. (Fig.5)

12. 50% of respondents said that they were not told of their right to have a copy of the search form. 10.9% said they were told of their right to have a copy of the search form.

13. 73.9% said that the passengers in their car were not also searched. 26.1% said that their passengers were also stopped and searched. The higher portion of these passengers also searched were male (6), black (8), and in their 20’s (9). 71.7% of the said passengers did not consider making a complaint; 15.2% did consider making a complaint, but (19) the highest proportion believed there was no point complaining as no action would be taken by the police.

14. 39.1% of respondents said that they had been stopped and searched in their car only once in the past 3 years. 10.8% said they had been stopped and searched in their car twice. 8.7% of respondents said that they had been stopped and searched in their cars 3 or more times in the past 3 years.

15. 50% of respondents said they had been stopped in their car with a search taking place.

16. 47.8% of respondents said that they had been stopped and searched in their car without a search taking place within the last year.

Respondents Beliefs and Feelings

17. 52.2% of respondents did not believe police acted reasonably in searching them. 30.4% of respondents believed police acted reasonably in searching them.

18. 67.4% of respondents did not believe the police had reasonable grounds to stop and search them. 15.2% of respondents believed the police had reasonable grounds to stop them.

19. 45.7% did not feel they were treated with respect when they were stopped in their car and a search was conducted. 26.1% or respondents believed they were treated with respect. (Fig.6)

20. When respondents were asked if they believed the stop and search powers of cars was being used too much on some groups of people (29) believed black people were disproportionately stopped in this way, as were non-whites (14), young people (19), and Asians (11). Only (1) person believed Muslims were being disproportionately stopped and searched in their car.

21. 48.1% of respondents believe that local communities should be directly involved in training police in stop and search powers. (Fig.7)

Protected Characteristics of Respondents

22. 56.6% of respondents said they were male, and 43.4% said that they were female.

23. 26% of survey described their ethnicity as white British, 15.1% Caribbean, 13.2% of white and black Caribbean dual heritage, 7.6% of African heritage, 5.7% of white and black African dual heritage, 5.7% of Indian origin. (Fig.8)

24. 51.9% of respondents considered themselves to be British by nationality.

25. 84.9% did not consider themselves to have a disability, 14.2% considered themselves to have a disability.

26. Of the respondents 43.4% were aged 16-24 years old, 42.5% were aged 25-59 years old. (Fig.9)

27. 91.5% of respondents stated their sexuality as being heterosexual.

28. 51.9% stated that they had no religious classification, 28.3% stated that they were Christians.

29. 92.5% of respondents stated that they had not changed their gender.

Specific Race and gender experiences of Stop Search

30. 19.8% of respondents who classified themselves as being black said they had been stopped and searched with their car, 10.4% of respondents who classified themselves as being of dual heritage said they had been stopped and searched with their car, 8.5% of respondents who classified themselves as being white said they had been stopped and searched with their car, and 3.8% of respondents who classified themselves as being Asian said they had been stopped and searched with their car. (Fig.10)

31. 33% of males said they had been stopped and searched with their car, and 10.4% of females said they had been stopped and searched with their car.

Conclusions

i. 19.8% of respondents who classified themselves as being black said they had been stopped and searched with their car, 10.4% of respondents who classified themselves as being of dual heritage said they had been stopped and searched with their car, 8.5% of respondents who classified themselves as being white said they had been stopped and searched with their car, and 3.8% of respondents who classified themselves as being Asian said they had been stopped and searched with their car.

ii. The above figures around Car Stop and searches falls in line with national statistics around general stop and searched with young black and dual heritage men being the most likely targets of stop and searches on the grounds of possession of illegal drugs, or on suspicion that they were involved with crime in some way.

iii. The evidence supports the hypothesis that young black men are disproportionately stopped and searched by police officers whilst driving; with black people being 2.3 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched in their car, dual heritage people being 1.2 times more likely to be stopped and searched in their car than white people, and Asian people being 2.2 times less likely than white people to be stopped and searched in their car.

iv. A disproportionately high number of people 10 out of 45 who answered the question were not given a reason for the searching of their car.

v. Almost 24% of police officers allegedly told respondents that they did not have to give a reason for stopping and searching them and their car.

vi. More than half of the police officers did not identify what police station they were operating from, which lessens likelihood of a person being able to identify the officer if they wished to make a complaint about the officer’s conduct.

vii. 28.3% of respondents said that they did not receive a form or that an electronic device was filled out in their presence during the stop search of their car. This again corresponds with the previous stop search research which showed that a high proportion of officers were not properly recording stop searches or providing respondents with details of the stop search. This is reflected in the statistics showing 50% of respondents said that they were not told of their right to have a copy of the stop and search form. Again 10 out of 45 people who answered Question 5 stated that they were not given a reason for the search.

Recommendations

We recommend that Northamptonshire Police should:

1. Monitor and record its car stop and searches, so that clear evidence can be given around whether or not police officers are using their powers to carry out car stop searches proportionately.

2. Target to reduce car disproportionate car stop searches.

3. Police officers are given Equality and discrimination training, which highlights what racial profiling is and the potential for their actions to damage community relations and hinder community cooperation in helping them solve and reduce the levels of crime.

4. Set target for introducing community involvement in stop and search training.

5. Adopt a target to film all stop searches using body worn video facilities, including those carried out on cars and passengers in Northamptonshire.

6. Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council (NREC) will in line with Stopwatch produce a self-monitoring form for respondents who have been stop and searched, to record relevant details of interaction which can be sent on to NREC who will monitor if there are police officers who are disproportionately using stop and searches and then interact with Northamptonshire police to investigate this and if found take action to reduce this.

Written by

Christopher Fray & Bhavita Rajguru.

APPENDIX 1

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“A lot of white people did not even know what stop and search was”.

“It’s reality, it’s never gonna stop”.

From my experience most white people tended not to have been stopped and searched, most black people had.

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Fig.1

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Fig.2

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Fig.3

If you were given a reason what was it?

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Fig.4

Did the Officer identify his station?

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Fig.5

Was a form either on paper or on an electronic device filled out in your presence?

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Fig.6

Do you feel that you were treated with respect when you were stopped and searched in your car?

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Fig.7

In your view, should local communities be directly involved in training police officers in the use of stop and search?

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Fig.8

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Fig.10

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Fig.9

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