Black people 'nine times more likely' to be searched by police in Hampshire than white people

With the highest number of stop and searches used across England and Wales for seven years, the Runnymede Trust warned the power is being used to disproportionately target the black community.

Home Office data shows officers in Hampshire carried out 8,932 stop and searches in the year to March – up from 8,121 the year before.

Using population estimates for the area, the figures show 32.1 per 1,000 black people were stopped, compared to just 3.5 per 1,000 white people.

This means black people were 9.3 times as likely to be subjected to a stop and search.

Similarly, 9.9 out of 1,000 people across all BAME groups were stopped, making them three times as likely as white people.

Alba Kapoor, policy officer at the Runnymede Trust said: ‘These latest figures are yet more evidence of the structural racism embedded in our criminal justice system.

‘That black people are so disproportionately targeted under stop and search shows a broken system in desperate need of repair.

‘We are clear that these powers are not fit for purpose, discriminatory and hugely damaging to BME communities.’

The power to stop and search is permitted under section one of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, allowing police to search people and vehicles for things like drugs or a weapon without a warrant.

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Assistant Chief Constable Maggie Blyth of Hampshire police said policing was ‘complex and challenging’ and welcomed procedures being ‘thoroughly scrutinised’.

She added: ‘Stop and search is an important part of our community policing, and helps us protect our communities, particularly vulnerable members of them.

‘We take an intelligence-based approach to this, using information supplied to us from the community to tackle high-harm crimes, such as drug-related harm, theft and the use of weapons.

‘Its effectiveness relies on the power being used in the right way.’

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