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What is Stop and Search
Stop and search powers are a range of powers given to police officers that allow them to stop any person or vehicle and search them. This allows an officer to confirm or allay their suspicions without them having to exercise their powers of arrest.
Over the years stop and searches have been the subject of significant controversy around their use and as such these powers must be used, fairly, proportionally and with regards for the Law and policing codes and procedures.
What is Required to Conduct a Stop and Search
With the exception of searches conducted under section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to conduct a stop and search an officer need to have reasonable grounds to suspect that an individual is in possession of a prohibited item.
This reasonable suspicion must be genuine and formed on an objective basis such that any other other reasonable person, in the same circumstances wit the same facts, information and intelligence would also come to the same conclusion. As a result of this an officer must be able to explain their basis for suspicion by referencing:
Information and intelligence the officer had at the time;
behaviour of the suspected individual.
There are some things that may never be used as a basis to form reasonable suspicion:
An individuals protected characteristics;
An individuals past convictions;
Generalisations or stereotypical images
A persons appearance (Unless there is specific information or intelligence describing an individual)
What information needs to be provided to an individual before searching them
PACE Code A sets out that before a stop and search in conducted that the suspect needs to be informed certain information. This information can be placed into the phonemic GO WISLEY
G - Grounds
The suspect must be inform the grounds for the search
O - Object
The suspect must be informed what the officer is searching for, this must be reasonable specific , for example an officer cant just say for illegal item however they can say things such as, bladed articles, controlled substances etc.
W - Warrant Card
If an officer is out of uniform they're required to show their warrant card
I - Identification
An officer must identify themself by stating their name, rank and collar number
S - Station
The officer must state which statement they're based at
L - Legislation
The officer must station what legislation gives them the power to search the individual
E - Entitlement for a Search Record
The suspect must be informed that they're entitled to a copy of the search record
Y - You are detained
The suspect must be informed they're detained for the purpose of the search.
(Note: The information does not have to be given in a set order so long as all the infromation is given)
What Legislation allows officers to conduct a stop and search
Section 1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1985
This legislation allows officers to search individuals for:
Stollen Items;
Items used to commit theft or criminal damage;
Fireworks;
Offensive weapons.
Section 23 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
This legislation allows officers to search an individual for drugs
Section 47 firearms Act 1968
This legislation allows officers to search an individual for :
Firearms
Ammunition
Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 grants police officers the power to stop and search individuals and vehicles for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments without needing reasonable suspicion. This "suspicionless search" is authorized by an insepctor or above when there is a belief that incidents of serious violence may occur, a weapon from a serious violence incident is being carried, or people are carrying weapons without good reason in a specific area
Filling out a Search Record
Every time an officer conducts a stop and search no matter if they find something or not a search record must be completed. To do this the officer must:
use image capture software such as to take a screenshot of a suspect's inventory.
This must then be uploaded to an image hosting site.
The officer should then right-click on the image and select the "copy image address" option;
The officer then needs to open their inventory and use a blank search record;
Paste the address into the box;
This will then create 2 copies of the search record, one for the officer and the other for the suspect. If the suspect doesn't want a copy the officer must keep both.
An incident report must then be created:
a. If the suspect is arrested \ Ticketed for having an unlawful item on them the incident report from this will suffice;
b. If the suspect did not have anything and is released then a "stop and search" incident report must be created.
Note: The individual is not required to provide their name unless other legislation requiring it applies
The search records should then be placed into a case file and linked to the incident report in case the individual requests them later.
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