MPS rolls out app to improve stop-and-search quality
The Metropolitan Police Service is rolling out a new app enabling supervisors to assess the quality of stop-and-search encounters, as the force reports its highest-ever find rate.
More than 9,000 stop-and-searches – 14 per cent of all stops – have already been reviewed using the Met-developed QuEST app.
The system forms part of a new Stop and Search Delivery Plan, which contains 36 measures aimed at improving the effectiveness, accountability and legitimacy of the tactic.
For the first time, supervisors are assessing encounters against the quality of the interaction as well as legal compliance, including how officers communicate, explain their grounds for the search and demonstrate respect towards members of the public.
The Met said the initiative forms part of a wider approach to training and increased supervision, following feedback from community groups, charities and Londoners.
In July, 36 per cent of stop-and-searches resulted in officers finding weapons, drugs or other evidence of offending – the highest monthly find rate recorded by the force.
Officers carried out almost 20 per cent more searches over the past year, while the Met said higher volumes had historically been associated with lower detection rates.
The new plan also includes virtual-reality training to improve officers’ decision-making and communication, a complaints app, community-led dip sampling and a safeguarding pilot with local authorities.
The force acknowledged that concerns about disproportionality remain, particularly among Black Londoners.
The Met said the approach was intended to focus on “quality rather than simply quantity”, while ensuring stop and search remained an effective tool for tackling serious violence.