Black people seven times as likely to be stopped and searched in Derbyshire

The figures come as human rights organisation Liberty calls on the Government to tackle the "appalling injustice" of increased stop and search rates for people of colour. Stop and search is a controversial practice, in which police temporarily stop individuals they suspect may be carrying weapons, drugs or other contraband.

While there are rules that govern how searches are carried out, several organisations have said they want the practice banned or heavily rolled back, in part because it is used far more often on people of colour, particularly black and black British communities.

The latest Home Office figures shows that of 1,735 searches carried out by Derbyshire Constabulary in the year to March, 85 were of black people – equivalent to 8.4 for every 1,000 black people in the area, according to the latest population data. By comparison, there were 1,151 searches of white people – or 1.2 for every 1,000 people. This means that black people were 7 times as likely to be stopped and searched.

Emmanuelle Andrews, Policy and Campaigns Manager at Liberty, a human rights charity, said: “Stop and search is a traumatic and distressing experience, leaving a lasting impact on both individuals and communities.

"Not only this, but stop and search is an ineffective policing tool – with these figures showing that the vast majority of stops result in no further action," she added.

However, the disparity in stop and searches has improved in Derbyshire since last year, with black people 10.5 times as likely to be stopped as white people in 2020-21.

Across England and Wales, this disparity has improved slightly, with black people now 6.2 times as likely to be stopped as white people, down from seven last year.

The overall number of searches also fell 22% in Derbyshire, down from 2,214 last year.

Superintendent Jim Thompson, who leads on stop and search for Derbyshire Constabulary, said: “Stop and search is an important tool to disrupt and detect crime and keep your communities safe. While at the same time it is also understood that it has a significant impact on our communities.

“In order to ensure that these powers are used fairly, legitimately, and effectively it is of the utmost importance that the public are confident in officers using these powers correctly.

“We welcome scrutiny and have dedicated panels set up to review stop and search incidents and continue to work with our communities and stakeholders to improve the quality of our interactions and to ensure our legitimate use of stop and search to protect the public.

“Through these processes it is now standard practice that an officer’s body worn video is activated during a search in order to provide a clear and accurate record of the stop and the reasons for it.

“While the overall number of stop and searches across the force may appear disproportionate, it is important to note a number of factors that impact what appears to be a simple final headline figure.

“While the overall population percentage of Black, Asian or other minority ethnic group is just under 15% - in Derby city, where the vast majority of stop and searches of B.A.M.E individuals takes place, the percentage is around 20%.

“Most other areas of the county have very small percentages of B.A.M.E individuals within their population – with a significant proportion of those stopped being from outside the county (for instance in 2020/21 35% of those stopped in the Derbyshire Dales area were from outside the county) which further skew figures relating to the proportions within Derbyshire.

“While it is clear there are significant, and understandable, reasons for the disproportionality within stop and search use, the force is absolutely committed to ensuring that our processes are transparent and that those impacted communities are engaged through processes such as the Independent Advisory Group (a collection of community members who provide guidance and advice on a range of issues to the force) as well as the recently created Youth Scrutiny Panel.

“Both groups have full unedited access to body worn video – which helps shape changes to our policy and further training for officers.”