Increasing stop and search is ‘no silver bullet’ for violent crime

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), the independent charity behind the research, says changes are needed to make stop and search “more effective and fairer”.

Jon Yates, executive director at the YEF, said: “Stop and search is an essential police power, but simply increasing the numbers of searches is no silver bullet on knife crime.

“Stop and search will always be needed but we must make it fairer and more effective. When used poorly, it has little effect on violence and erodes trust in the police.”

He added: “If we want less knife crime, we have to focus more on the other important things that our police do: like regularly being present in areas where violence is high, making sure that children arrested with knives get corrective support fast and targeting those heavily involved in violence.

“It’s not about being tough or soft on crime we have to be smart. We have to do what works.”

Last year, the police in England and Wales conducted 542,722 stop and searches under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), which requires ‘reasonable grounds’ for a search. Of these searches, 14 per cent resulted in an arrest and three per cent uncovered an offensive weapon.

The study found the majority of these searches, around 61 per cent, were carried out due to suspicion of carrying drugs, not weapons.

Out of the 86,388 searches specifically targeting offensive weapons (16 per cent of the total), 11 per cent resulted in finding one.

Searches of children aged ten to 17 accounted for 21 per cent of all stop and searches in this period [April 2022 to March 2023], with ten per cent resulting in an arrest.

The YEF says evidence suggests stop and searches are “significantly more effective” when based on strong grounds and prompted by specific information or intelligence.

A 2021 review by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found that when stop and searches were conducted with ‘strong’ or ‘moderate’ grounds, an unlawful item was found in 31 per cent of cases on average.

In contrast, searches based on ‘weak’ or ‘unreasonable’ grounds had an average find rate of 16 per cent. Despite these lower find rates, searches based on ‘weak’ or ‘unreasonable’ grounds accounted for more than a third (36 per cent) of all PACE searches.

The YEF says the “significant proportion” of searches conducted on weak or unreasonable grounds underscores the need for stop and search strategies to be more intelligence-led.

“By focusing on stronger intelligence, stop and search is likely to be more effective in finding weapons, deterring crime and preventing violence,” it says.

“Additionally, robust monitoring and regular police training – neither of which are currently commonplace across UK forces – are essential to ensure the practice is effective, just and reasonable.”

The charity’s review also highlights significant differences in the impact of stop and search between countries. In the US the practice led to an average 13 per cent reduction in crime (based on nine available studies). Meanwhile, the decrease was much smaller in the UK, at just five per cent. The evidence supporting the use of stop and search was also considerably weaker, with only three UK-based studies examining its impact.

The review highlights the potential negative consequences of stop and search on children and communities.

Studies showed that individuals subjected to police searches are more likely to have mental and physical health issues, as well as negative attitudes toward the police.

The research shows higher rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts and sleep problems among people who have been stopped and searched, compared to those who have not.

“However, the research is not robust enough to confirm whether these higher rates were caused or exacerbated by the stop and search experience or by other life events and experiences,” says the YEF.

It adds that any potential harmful effects would reinforce long-standing concerns about ethnic disparities in the police’s use of stop and search. For example, in 2022/23, black people were four times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

The YEF research suggests that alternative police tactics could be more effective at preventing violence. For example, hot spots policing, which increases visible police patrols in high-crime areas, has been used successfully by many police forces. On average, this approach reduces violence by 14 per cent and drug offences by 30 per cent.

Also effective are focused deterrence programmes, which involve the police collaborating with local services and community organisations to provide targeted interventions for young people at high risk of committing violence. A review of 24 studies suggests that, on average, focused deterrence strategies reduced crime by 33 per cent.

Both strategies have shown significant reductions in crime, says the YEF.

In addition to preventing crime, it says other police strategies can help reduce reoffending. For instance, when a child is searched and subsequently arrested for the first time for a low-level offence (such as drug possession), research shows that diverting them to effective support programmes rather than taking them to court reduces the likelihood and severity of future offences.

Drawing from the rest of the YEF Toolkit, there are numerous evidence-based measures for preventing violence that do not involve police, such as providing access to mentoring, cognitive behavioural therapy and positive activities, like sports programmes.

Stop and search is the latest addition to the YEF Toolkit, a free online resource that rates the effectiveness of different approaches to preventing children from becoming involved in violence.

Ajada Bridges-Matthew, Youth Advisory Board member at the YEF, said: “The findings suggest that stop and search does not significantly reduce violence and may even have long-term negative effects on the young people who are searched.

“Rather than increasing the number of searches, police resources can usually be better utilised to understand and build closer relationships with local communities. By doing so, the police can better serve those communities in their efforts to reduce violence and build trust within them.”

Rick Muir, director at The Police Foundation, said: “The YEF Toolkit provides essential evidence for police practitioners and others seeking to understand the impact of stop and search, both on crime and on trust and confidence in the police.

“The research shows that while stop and search can be a useful tool in tackling crime, it also has the potential to damage the well-being of those subjected to it. Its impact is particularly severe if young people feel they are unfairly targeted. For example, due to the colour of their skin or the location they are in, or that they are not treated fairly and with respect.

“The evidence shows stop and search is most effective and has the least negative impact on community confidence when it is used sparingly, with ’reasonable grounds’ and on the basis of sound intelligence.”