Accredited official statistics

Police powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2023 (second edition)

Updated 14 March 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Frequency of release: Annual

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Rosanna Currenti

Press enquiries: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

Privacy information notice: Home Office Crime and Policing Research and Annual Data Requirement (ADR) data – Privacy Information Notices

1.1 Overview of Police powers and procedures statistical bulletins

Prior to October 2021, the ‘Police powers and procedures’ statistical bulletin was published once annually, covering statistics on stop and search and arrests, as well as other police powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 such as fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences, breath tests, pre-charge bail, released under investigation and detentions under the Mental Health Act. Given the volume and variety of topics covered, a decision was made in 2021 to split the release into 2 separate statistical bulletins.

This release is the first of the now 2 annual publications and contains statistics on the use of the powers of stop and search and arrest by the police in England and Wales up to the year ending 31 March 2023.

Stop and search statistics contain information from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, and the British Transport Police (BTP), including data on the:

• change in the use of stop and search in the years ending March 2022 and March 2023
• number of stop and searches carried out under a range of legislative powers, including; section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and associated legislation, section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 47A (previously section 44) of the Terrorism Act 2000
• reason for conducting a search
• outcomes following stop and search
• weapons found from stop and search
• ethnicity, sex and age of persons searched
• analysis of where stop and searches take place within Police Force Areas (also referred to as ‘hotspot analysis’)
• whether force was used in a stop and search

Arrest statistics contain information from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales on a financial-year basis, including data on the:

• number of arrests for notifiable offences
• reason for which persons were arrested
• ethnicity, sex and age of those arrested

The second part of this statistics series, ‘Police powers and procedures: Other PACE powers, England and Wales’, was published on 31 January 2024. That release contains statistics on the use of other police powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 including:

• fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences
• breath tests
• pre-charge bail, released under investigation and voluntary attendance
• detentions under the Mental Health Act
• the use of police custody and the number of strip searches and intimate searches conducted in custody

1.2 Main findings

In the year ending March 2023:

In total, including searches under section 1 PACE and section 60 CJPOA, police in England and Wales conducted 547,002 stop and searches, an increase of 3% compared with the year ending March 2022 (up 16,032 from 530,970).

The number of arrests following searches under all legislation increased by 7,019 (up 10% to 74,097) in the year ending March 2023. This equated to 14% of all searches, a slight increase compared with the year ending March 2022 (13%), however it remains below the peak of the arrest rate (17%) in the year ending March 2017 and year ending March 2018.

Close to two-thirds (63%) of stop and searches in the year ending March 2023 were of males aged between 15 and 34, while this group makes up 13% of the overall population.

There were 668,979 arrests carried out by 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, an increase of 2% compared with the year ending March 2022, in which there were 654,597 arrests.

The pattern across forces was mixed. Of the 42 police forces that provided data in the year ending March 2023, 25 forces showed an increased number of arrests compared with the year ending March 2022, while 17 police forces made fewer arrests.

1.3 Revisions to this bulletin

Following the first publication of this release, Dorset Police found an error in the year ending March 2023 stop and search data they initially supplied to the Home Office. This error caused their data on the self-defined ethnicity of persons stopped and searched in the year ending March 2023 to be misreported. The total number of stop and searches in England and Wales has also been revised down by 1 because of this re-submission. A summary of the revisions is in table 1.1 below.

Table 1.1: Revisions made to Dorset’s stop and search data since first publication

Self-defined ethnicity	First publication (number of searches)	Revised data (number of searches)	First publication (disparity)	Revised data (disparity)
White	1,500	1,382	1.0	1.0
Black (or black British)	193	138	17.8	13.8
Asian (or Asian British)	49	45	1.3	1.3
Other ethnic group	8	17	0.5	1.3
Mixed	64	63	2.0	2.2
Not stated	79	247	N/A	N/A
Vehicle only searches	0	0	N/A	N/A
Total	1,893	1,892	N/A	N/A

North Wales were also previously unable to identify the primary reason for arrest and were reporting all offences as separate arrests. Following the first edition of this publication in September 2023, North Wales revised their March 2022 and March 2023 data, which led to decreases of 53% in their number of arrests in each year and a decrease in the number of arrests in England and Wales of 1.2% each year. All breakdowns by protected characteristics and reason for arrest have also been updated accordingly.

Table 1.2: Revisions made to North Wales arrests data since first publication

Year ending March	Force	First publication (number of arrests)	Revised data (number of arrests)	Change (number of arrests)	Change (%)
2022	North Wales	14,648	6,879	-7,769	-53%
2022	England and Wales	662,366	654,597	-7,769	-1%
2023	North Wales	15,521	7,239	-8,282	-53%
2023	England and Wales	677,261	668,979	-8,282	-1%

2.1 Introduction to stop and search

This section presents the latest statistics on stop and searches conducted by the territorial police forces in England and Wales (and the British Transport Police) under 3 different legislative powers. These are:

• section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 and associated legislation^{[footnote 1]}
• section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994
• section 47A (previously section 44) of the Terrorism Act (TACT) 2000

These powers allow police to search persons and vehicles without a warrant in specific situations. Details of the above legislation and the legislation associated with section 1 of PACE are included in the user guide.

Incident-level data on stop and search from police forces, where each row of data is for a single incident of stop and search, has been collected for searches since April 2020. Since then, the data collection also covers:

• the age and sex of the person searched
• details on whether a weapon was found
• the date and time information of the search
• the precise geographic location (using X-Y coordinates) of where the search was recorded

This section includes statistics on the:

• change in the use of stop and search in the years ending March 2022 and March 2023
• number of stop and searches carried out under a range of legislative powers, including; section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and associated legislation, section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 47A (previously section 44) of the Terrorism Act 2000
• reason for conducting a search
• outcomes following stop and search
• weapons found from stop and search
• ethnicity, sex and age of persons searched
• police use of force in a stop and search

2.2 Main results - stop and search

In total, including searches under section 1 PACE and section 60 CJPOA, police in England and Wales conducted 547,002 stop and searches in the year ending March 2023, an increase of 3% compared with the year ending March 2022 (up 16,032 from 530,970).

Figure 2.1: Number of stop and searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation, section 60 CJPOA and section 47A (previously section 44) of the TACT 2000, England and Wales, year ending March 2002 to March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_01, Home Office

Notes:

1. Data collected before the year ending March 2010 does not include the British Transport Police (BTP). Due to this, stop and search data before the year ending March 2010 is not directly comparable with more recent years. BTP usually makes up between 1% and 2% of all stop and search across England and Wales each year.

There were 542,722 stop and searches conducted under section 1 PACE by police in England and Wales (including British Transport Police). This is an increase of 16,093 (3%) compared with the year ending March 2022.

With the exception of searches for drugs (which decreased slightly by 3%) and searches under section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (which decreased by 24%), the number of searches conducted in the year ending March 2023 increased across all other search reasons (see section 2.4 for a full breakdown).

The number of arrests following searches under all legislation increased by 7,019 (up 10% to 74,097) in the year ending March 2023. This equated to 14% of all searches, a slight increase compared with the year ending March 2022 (13%), however it remains below the peak of the arrest rate (17%) in the year ending March 2017 and year ending March 2018.

Of those 542,722 searches under section 1 PACE (and associated legislation), 73,891 led to an arrest. This number of arrests is 10% higher than the year ending March 2022. The proportion of searches resulting in an arrest increased slightly, from 13% to 14%.

In 71% of stop and searches under section 1 PACE, the outcome was recorded as needing ‘no further action’, similar to the year ending March 2022. This is the same proportion as searches under all legislation.

Police in England and Wales conducted 4,280 stop and searches under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act in anticipation of violence, a decrease of 1% compared with the year ending March 2022 (down from 4,341).

Close to two-thirds (63%) of stop and searches in the year ending March 2023 were of males aged between 15 and 34, while this group makes up 13% of the overall population. Males aged 15 to 19 had the highest rate of stop and search, at 71 stop and searches per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023.

All ethnic groups (based on self-defined ethnicity), either saw a reduction or little to no change in disparity rates^{[footnote 2]} compared with the year ending March 2022. Individuals from a black or black British background have the highest disparity rate, at a rate 4.1 times higher than that of those from a white ethnic group across England and Wales. These differences do not account for different likelihoods of being either a suspect or a victim of crime.

Based on a combination of self-defined ethnicity and officer-observed ethnicity (where self-defined ethnicity was not stated) the disparity rate for black people was 5.5. This was a decrease compared with the year ending March 2022 (6.2). People who self-defined their ethnicity as either black or ‘mixed or other’ (or were perceived by the officer to belong to one of those ethnicities, if not stated) had an arrest rate following a stop and search of 15%. White people had an arrest rate of 13%, and people who self-defined or were perceived to be of Asian ethnicity had the lowest arrest rate (12%).

Around one-third (32%) of all stop and search took place within the Metropolitan Police Service area. Approximately 25% of stop and search within London took place in just 2.0% of Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA – this is a small area typically made up of 1,000 to 3,000 people) within London, and 50% of stop and searches took place in just 9.0% of LSOAs.

2.3 Trends in stop and search by legislation

2.3.1 Section 1 PACE and associated legislation

In this section we refer to ‘section 1 PACE’ searches, which includes other legislation such as searches conducted under section 23 Misuse of Drugs Act (1971). For examples of other legislation included under section 1 searches see the user guide.

In the year ending March 2023 there were 542,722 stop and searches conducted under section 1 PACE by police in England and Wales (including British Transport Police). The number of searches under section 1 PACE in the year ending March 2023 increased by 16,093 (or 3%) compared with the year ending March 2022 (526,629). 28 of the 44 police forces in England and Wales had a higher number of stop and searches under section 1 PACE in the year ending March 2023 than the year ending March 2022.

Looking at longer-term changes, the number of stop and searches conducted in the year ending March 2023 was 56% below the peak recorded in the year ending March 2011 (when there were 1,229,324). The rate of reduction between the year ending March 2011 and the year ending March 2018 in stop and searches accelerated following the then Home Secretary’s decision in 2014 to re-focus the use of such powers. Between the year ending March 2018 and year ending March 2021, the number of stop and searches began to increase again^{[footnote 3]}.

Figure 2.2: Number of stop and searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation, England and Wales, year ending March 2002 to March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_02, Home Office

Notes:

1. Data collected before the year ending March 2010 does not include the British Transport Police (BTP). Due to this, stop and search data before the year ending March 2010 is not directly comparable with more recent years. BTP usually makes up between 1% and 2% of all stop and search across England and Wales each year.

2.3.2 Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act

Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) 1994 enables officers to conduct ‘no suspicion’ stop and searches for dangerous instruments or offensive weapons for a limited time within a specified area, in anticipation of violence occurring in that area. This will often follow a major incident or from intelligence gathered by the police. Further details can be found in the user guide.

From April 2019, under a pilot scheme agreed by the then Home Secretary, some changes were made to the conditions under which a section 60 search could be carried out. The changes, aimed to make it easier for the police to use such powers when they judged it necessary to do so, included:

• reducing the rank of an authorising officer from senior officer to inspector
• relaxing the grounds from a reasonable belief that serious violence will take place to a belief that it may take place

A phased approach was taken, with 7 forces joining the pilot from 1 April 2019, whilst the remaining 37 forces joined from August 2019. Three further changes were made at that time:

• increasing the length of time the initial Section 60 order can be in place from 15 to 24 hours
• reducing the rank of officer who can extend the order for up to a further 24 hours from senior officer to superintendent
• removing the requirement for forces to communicate to local communities in advance, where practicable, where a Section 60 order is in place

In July 2021, as part of the Beating Crime Plan, the then Home Secretary announced a permanent relaxation of all 5 voluntary conditions outlined above.

In the year ending March 2023, police in England and Wales carried out 4,280 stop and searches under section 60 CJPOA, a 1% decrease compared with the year ending March 2022 (when 4,341 such searches were undertaken). This is the third consecutive decrease in the number of searches under section 60, following 3 years of increases between the year ending March 2018 and the year ending March 2020 (figure 2.3). Greater Manchester Police increased their number of stop and searches under section 60 CJPOA by 267% in the year ending March 2023, from 260 up to 954. The Metropolitan Police Service decreased their number of searches under section 60 CJPOA by 58% in the year ending March 2023, from 1,760 to 741.

Figure 2.3: Stop and searches under section 60 CJPOA, England and Wales, year ending March 2007 to March 2023

Source: Stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2007 to year ending 31 March 2020 and stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2021 to year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. Data from the year ending March 2010 onwards includes the British Transport Police (BTP). Data taken before this is not directly comparable with more recent years.

The number of forces making at least one stop and search under section 60 powers increased from 18 to 23 of the 44 forces in England and Wales (including BTP) in the year ending March 2023.

In previous years, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has usually had the highest number of section 60 stop and searches in England and Wales. However, in the year ending March 2023, Greater Manchester Police conducted a higher number of stop and searches under section 60 CJPOA, accounting for 22% of the England and Wales total, whereas the MPS conducted fewer stop and searches under this power, accounting for 17% of section 60 searches. Thames Valley Police accounted for 11% of the total number of section 60 stop and searches in the year ending March 2023. West Midlands Police and West Yorkshire Police each accounted for 9% of the total.

The proportion of section 60 searches that resulted in an arrest in the year ending March 2023 was 5%, up from the year ending March 2022 (3%). However, this remains much lower than the arrest rate following searches under section 1 of PACE (14% in the year ending March 2023).

2.3.3 Section 47A (previously section 44) of the Terrorism Act 2000

Section 47A (as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) allows the police to use stop and search powers when there is reasonable suspicion an act of terrorism will take place, and only when such powers are considered necessary to prevent such an act taking place. This must be authorised by a senior officer, at least at the rank of assistant chief constable, and the area and duration of the authorisation must be no greater than is necessary to prevent such an act. Section 47A of TACT stop and search powers replaced similar powers under section 44 of TACT on 18 March 2011. Further information on these searches can be found in the user guide.

In the last 5 years, stop and search powers under section 47A of TACT were not used. In the year ending March 2018, there were 149 stop and searches under section 47A of TACT, details of which can be found in the bulletin from that year.

2.4 Reason for search under section 1 PACE legislation

There are several reasons why the police may carry out a section 1 PACE stop and search, such as having reasonable grounds to suspect that an individual is carrying drugs or a weapon. Any further arrests from a PACE search may not be related to the first reason for the search; for example, an officer may suspect that an individual is carrying drugs but arrest them if they are found to be carrying a weapon. As a result, while arrest rates give an overall picture of the number of searches leading to arrests, they do not give insight into arrest rates for specific offence categories. More information on how frequently arrests (and other outcomes) are linked to the first reason for the search can be found in the link between search reason and outcome section. The data quality section also includes information on data collected on reason for arrest. Reason for arrest data is provided in the stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_46 as experimental statistics.

As in previous years, the most common reason for carrying out a PACE stop and search was on suspicion of drug possession. These made up 61% of all stop and searches in the year ending March 2023, a lower proportion than the year ending March 2022 (65%) (table 2.1). The proportion and number of drugs searches steadily increased between the year ending March 2018 and year ending March 2021, but has reduced in the 2 years since then. The peak in the year ending March 2021 may have been affected by proactive searches for drugs during national lockdowns throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proportion of searches on people suspected to be in possession of stolen property or going equipped for stealing increased slightly in the year ending March 2023, as did searches for ‘other’ reasons, see table 2.1 below.

Table 2.1: Proportion of PACE stop and searches, England and Wales, years ending March 2020, March 2021, March 2022 and March 2023

Reason for search	Year ending March 2020	Year ending March 2021	Year ending March 2022	Year ending March 2023
Drugs	63	69	65	61
Offensive weapons	16	12	16	16
Stolen property	10	8	9	10
Going equipped	7	7	7	8
Other	2	2	2	2
Criminal damage	1	1	1	1
Firearms	1	1	1	1
s.43 Terrorism Act 2000	0	0	0	0

Source: Stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2007 to year ending 31 March 2020 and stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2021 to year ending 31 March 2023

Notes:

1. The ‘other’ search category includes reasons such as fireworks.
2. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100.

Apart from searches for drugs (which decreased slightly by 3%) and searches under section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (which decreased by 24%), the number of searches conducted in the year ending March 2023 increased across all other search reasons (figure 2.4). The largest increase in the number of searches was for ‘other’ reasons, which increased by 58% from 8,504 in the year ending March 2022 to 13,439 in the year ending March 2023. The decrease in stop and searches for drugs, matches trends seen in police recorded crime data, which has also shown a decrease in recorded drug offences; this most likely reflects that these police recorded drug offences are often driven by stop and search activity.

Figure 2.4: PACE stop and searches by reason for search, England and Wales, the year ending March 2022 compared with the year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_03, Home Office

Notes:

1. The ‘other’ search category includes searches for reasons such as fireworks.
2. In the year ending March 2022 there were 559 searches under s.43 of the Terrorism Act, and in the year ending March 2023 there were 423 searches.

2.5 Outcomes from stop and search

It should be noted that, for this data collection, only one outcome (the principal outcome) per stop and search is recorded and subsequent sanctions are not included. For example, if an arrest is made following a stop and search and subsequently a caution is also issued, only the arrest will be counted. For further information about how outcomes are recorded and for detail on data quality issues, please see the user guide.

2.5.1 Trends in arrest rates

The number of arrests following searches under all legislation increased by 7,019 (up 10% to 74,097) in the year ending March 2023. This equated to 14% of all searches, a slight increase compared with the year ending March 2022 (13%), however it remains below the peak of the arrest rate (17%) in the year ending March 2017 and year ending March 2018.

Figure 2.5: Arrest rate under all stop and search legislation, England and Wales, year ending March 2002 to March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_21, Home Office

Notes:

1. Data collected before the year ending March 2010 does not include the British Transport Police (BTP). Due to this, stop and search data before the year ending March 2010 is not directly comparable with more recent years. BTP usually makes up between 1% and 2% of all stop and search across England and Wales each year.

The number of arrests following a section 1 PACE search increased by 6,961 (10%) in the year ending March 2023. This was a larger percentage increase than the rise in the total number of section 1 PACE searches over the same time period (an increase of 3% or 16,093). This led to a rise in the arrest rate, up from 13% in the year ending March 2022 to 14% in the year ending March 2023.

Arrests under section 60 CJPOA account for a very small proportion of all arrests following a stop and search (206 out of 74,097 arrests or 0.3%). The arrest rate in the year ending March 2023 for section 60 searches was 5%, slightly higher than the year ending March 2022 (3%).

Arrest is just one possible outcome following a stop and search. Data on other outcomes from stop and search can be found in the next section (2.5.2).

2.5.2 All outcomes resulting from a stop and search

Since the year ending March 2017, police forces have reported on a wider range of outcomes including:

• arrests
• cautions
• summons
• penalty notices for disorder
• cannabis or khat warnings
• community resolutions
• no further action

Since the year ending March 2021, the Home Office have expanded the list of outcomes to also include:

• voluntary attendance
• verbal warning or words of advice
• seizure of property
• guardian intervention
• other action

In years prior to the year ending March 2021, the new options would have been classed as ‘no further action’. Therefore, comparisons with previous years on the proportion of searches that resulted in ‘no further action’ should be interpreted with caution. A full breakdown of stop and search outcomes is available in the stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2021 to year ending 31 March 2023 accompanying this publication.

This data includes searches under both section 1 Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. In 71% of stop and searches the outcome was recorded as needing ‘no further action’. In a further 14% the initial outcome was an arrest and an alternative outcome was given in the remaining 16% of cases. These proportions are all similar to the year ending March 2022 (table 2.2).

Table 2.2: Proportion of outcomes following a stop and search, in the year ending March 2022 and the year ending March 2023

Outcome	Proportion in year ending March 2022	Proportion in year ending March 2023
Arrest	12.6	13.5
Community resolution	7.7	7.9
Summons	1.8	1.5
Verbal warning or words of advice	1.5	1.2
Penalty notice for disorder	1.4	1.2
Khat or cannabis warning	1.2	0.7
Other action	0.9	1.1
Seizure of property	0.7	0.9
Voluntary attendance	0.7	1.0
Caution	0.3	0.3
Guardian intervention	0.0	0.0
No further action	71.1	70.7

Source: Stop and search outcomes summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SSO_01, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes British Transport Police.
2. 40 police forces are either partially or fully using the expanded list of outcomes introduced in 2021. Four police forces (Cambridgeshire, Metropolitan Police, Northumbria and Surrey) are only using old outcomes framework only.

If the outcomes introduced in the year ending March 2021 are considered to be ‘no further action’ (as they would have been before that year), then 75% of searches in the year ending March 2023 resulted in ‘no further action’, the same proportion as in the year ending March 2022.

2.5.3 Link between outcome and reason for a stop and search

This section excludes cases where an object was found however the link between the reason for search and outcome is unknown, or where it’s unknown whether an object was found.

In the year ending March 2023, 22% of stop and searches resulted in an outcome that was linked to the reason for the search, a similar level to the year ending March 2022 (23%), with both of these figures. However, this varied by the reason for search. For example, 27% of drugs searches resulted in a linked outcome, whereas only 7% of searches under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 resulted in a linked outcome. This lower rate for Section 60 searches reflects the fact that they are undertaken to try and resolve violent situations quickly in a specific area, without reasonable grounds to suspect the people being searched.

Table 2.3: Proportion of stop and search where the outcome of the stop was linked to the reason for the stop and search, by reason for stop, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Reason for search	Outcome linked to reason for search	Outcome not linked	Nothing found
Drugs	27	4	69
Stolen property	21	7	71
Firearms	14	9	77
Offensive weapons	11	7	82
Criminal damage	12	7	81
Going equipped	9	11	80
S.43 (Terrorism)	2	7	91
Other	14	7	79
Total Section 1 PACE	22	5	73
S.60 (Violence)	7	7	87
Total	22	5	73

Source: Stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2021 to year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. Proportion calculations do not include cases where an object was found however the link between the reason for search and outcome is unknown, or where it’s unknown whether an object was found.
2. The ‘other’ search category includes searches under Section 1 PACE that do not fall into other categories.
3. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100.

2.5.4 Weapons found from stop and search – Experimental statistics

The Home Office stop and search data collection was expanded in the year ending March 2021 so that police forces can provide more detailed information on whether an offensive weapon or firearm was found in a stop and search encounter. Previously, data was only collected on whether an offensive weapon was found from a search conducted under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

Due to the differences in how forces record property found during a stop and search, caution should be taken when interpreting these statistics. Furthermore, the data collected as part of the stop and search collection does not show whether multiple weapons were found in a single search. Therefore, the figures presented below are estimates and should be used with caution. See the user guide for more information on the data quality issues of these statistics.

Approximately 15,100 (3%) of searches in the year ending March 2023 resulted in an offensive weapon or firearm being found. Approximately 3,250 (22%) of those searches which resulted in a find were when the initial search reason was for drugs. A full breakdown of all search reasons and force breakdown can be found in the stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, tables SS_42 and SS_45.

2.6 Demographics of persons stop and searched

2.6.1 Ethnicity of persons searched

When a stop and search is undertaken, the person being searched is asked by the police which ethnic group they consider themselves to belong to. This is a measure of “self-defined” ethnicity rather than “officer observed” and is the preferred measure of ethnicity. For the purpose of analysis, the 19 ethnicity categories as defined by the ONS 2021 Census, were grouped into the following categories:

• Asian (or Asian British)^{[footnote 4]}
• black (or black British)
• mixed
• white
• other ethnic group
• not stated

Additionally, officer-observed ethnicity may also be recorded as one of the following:

• Asian
• black
• white
• other

Since the year ending March 2021, the Home Office have collected stop and search data on both the “officer observed” ethnicity and the “self-defined” ethnicity of the person searched, for individual records. This means that if the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched was not stated, officer-observed ethnicity can be used as a replacement, for analytical purposes.

This section begins by examining the ethnicity of people stopped and searched using the traditional method, based solely on self-defined ethnicity. The latter section uses the newer approach, in which when the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched was not stated, officer-observed ethnicity is used instead. The approach is an attempt to reduce uncertainty in disparity rates based solely on self-defined ethnicity, caused by the growing proportion of records in which this information is not stated (20% in the year ending March 2023). This latter approach is only possible for data in the latest 3 reporting years.

It is important that a ‘like-for-like’ approach is used when making comparisons between years. That is, when assessing the trend in disparity rates, users should not use the rate based on the newer approach for the latest year and compare it to the rate based on the traditional approach for the previous year. It is advisable to use the traditional approach when making long-terms comparisons, however the newer (combined) approach can be used for the most recent 3 years.

Self-defined ethnicity of persons searched

The MPS consistently make up a large proportion of all stop and searches in England and Wales (32% in the year ending March 2023) and also has a larger proportion of ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) within its resident population (46%) compared to the rest of England and Wales (13% - not including MPS)^{[footnote 5]}. Table 2.4 presents the data for the MPS area separately, as well as distinct England and Wales totals, with one including and the other not including the MPS area. Table 2.4 shows that stops of individuals who define themselves as black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups make up a larger proportion of all stops in the MPS area when compared with forces in the rest of England and Wales.

Table 2.4: Proportion of stop and searches by self-defined ethnic group, England and Wales (E&W) and the MPS area, year ending March 2023

Legislation	Police Force Areas	Asian	Black	Mixed	White	Other	Not stated
All searches	E&W excl. MPS	8	6	3	66	1	16
All searches	MPS	11	22	4	31	3	29
All searches	England & Wales	9	11	3	55	2	20
Population	E&W excl. MPS	7	2	2	87	1	-
Population	MPS	21	14	6	54	6	-
Population	England & Wales	9	4	3	82	2	-

Sources: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_22 and table P_1, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle only searches.
2. Includes searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
3. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100.

The largest increase in the number of searches was seen in the group of people who self-defined as white, an increase of 15,127 (6%), from 273,982 to 289,109 in the year ending March 2023. There were similar increases in searches of people from the mixed ethnicity group, which increased by 803 (5%) from 16,199 to 17,002, and people from other ethnic groups, which increased by 931 (11%) from 8,529 to 9,460.

There was a decrease in the number of searches of people who self-defined as black British or Asian British. The number of searches of people who self-defined as black decreased by 6,464 (10%) from 65,452 to 58,988. The number of searches of people who self-defined as Asian decreased by 2,271 (5%) from 48,901 to 46,630.

Figure 2.6: Number of stop and searches by self-defined ethnicity, England and Wales, the year ending March 2023 compared with the year ending March 2022

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_16, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
2. Includes British Transport Police.

Caution should be taken when interpreting search rates at the national level because force areas vary in their ethnic composition (and in their level of missing ethnicity data); an average national figure presumes that all stop and searches and ethnic groups are spread evenly across forces, whereas these differ considerably between forces. Furthermore, even within a PFA there can be significant variation in terms of the distribution of different ethnic groups, which may be hidden by the force level averages. One notable example of this is the Metropolitan Police PFA^{[footnote 6]} which is made up of several boroughs where ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) make up the majority of the resident population, and others where they form a minority of the resident population. For this reason, more insightful analysis can be possible at smaller geographical levels than PFA. See section 2.8 and Annex A.2 for on more information on stop and search ‘hotspots’.

It is also important to be mindful of the fact that the population data is based on residential estimates and does not show the transient population – people who move into and out of an area, but do not live there.

Furthermore, when calculating rates, individuals who have not provided their ethnicity are not included. In the year ending March 2023, the level of missing ethnicity data (self-defined) was 20%. This proportion has steadily increased since the year ending March 2014, in which self-defined ethnicity was not stated for only 5% of searches. This adds further uncertainty to the trends discussed below. To improve this level of uncertainty, we have repeated this analysis using officer-observed ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity is not stated – see the ‘Combined disparity measure’ section below for more detail.

The following analysis compares the overall rate of stop and search per 1,000 population for each ethnic group based on self-defined ethnicity (using the 2021 5+1 Census categories) against the relative rate at which people from each ethnicity are stopped and searched in comparison to white individuals. A relative rate of 1 indicates a lower likelihood whilst a relative rate greater than 1 indicates a higher likelihood. For example, a relative rate of 2 would mean that a group is stopped twice as much as the white group.

Traditional disparity measure

In the year ending March 2023, People identifying as black or black British were searched at a rate 4.1 times higher than those from a white ethnic group across England and Wales, which is the second year-on-year decrease, from 5.5 in the year ending March 2021 and 4.8 in the year ending March 2022.

In the year ending March 2023, people identifying as Asian or Asian British were searched at a rate 1.4 times higher than those from a white ethnic group. In the year ending March 2023, people identifying as mixed were searched at a rate 1.7 times higher than white people, and people from other ethnic groups 1.3 times higher (table 2.5).

Table 2.5: Comparison of the rate at which people were searched relative to individuals who self-define their ethnicity as white

Year	Asian (or Asian British)	Black (or black British)	Mixed	Other ethnic group
2010/11	2.0	6.5	1.8	1.6
2011/12	1.8	5.9	1.8	1.5
2012/13	1.5	4.4	1.6	1.3
2013/14	1.4	4.1	1.5	1.3
2014/15	1.3	4.4	1.6	1.4
2015/16	1.8	6.5	2.1	1.8
2016/17	2.0	8.4	2.4	2.0
2017/18	2.3	9.5	2.8	2.4
2018/19	2.5	9.7	2.7	2.7
2019/20	2.5	8.9	2.6	2.9
*	*	*	*	*
2020/21	1.8	5.5	1.7	1.2
2021/22	1.6	4.8	1.7	1.2
2022/23	1.4	4.1	1.7	1.3

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_18, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
2. Population breakdowns used to calculate the disparity figures are based on the 2011 Census for all years up to the year ending March 2020, and the 2021 Census for the latest 3 years. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing between these periods.

Combined disparity measure

Self-defined and officer-observed ethnicity of people searched

As shown in table 2.4, in the year ending March 2023, self-defined ethnicity was ‘not stated’ for approximately 1 in every 5 searches of people. This increases the uncertainty in the figures presented above. Table 2.6 presents the data in a different way; where the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched is not stated, officer-observed ethnicity is used instead. This reduces the proportion of stops with unknown ethnicity from 20% to 2%.

Table 2.6: Proportion of stop and searches by ethnic group, England and Wales (E&W) and the MPS area, year ending March 2023

Legislation	Police Force Area(s)	Asian	Black	Mixed or other	White	Not stated
All searches	E&W excl. MPS	10	8	5	75	2
All searches	MPS	15	35	9	40	1
All searches	England & Wales	12	17	6	63	2
Population	E&W excl. MPS	7	2	4	87	-
Population	MPS	21	14	12	54	-
Population	England & Wales	9	4	5	82	-

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_23, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle only searches.
2. Includes searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
3. Table uses officer-observed ethnicity in place of self-defined ethnicity for records where self-defined ethnicity is ‘not stated’.
4. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100.

Looking at the data in this way increases the disparity rates for people from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), especially for black people. This suggests that self-defined ethnicity is more likely to be ‘not stated’ or missing when the person searched was from one of those ethnic groups. Using officer-observed ethnicity in place of self-defined ethnicity (when the latter is ‘not stated’) the disparity for ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) in the year ending March 2023 was 2.5 (compared with 2.0 using the measure solely using self-defined ethnicity data). This is a slight decrease compared with the year ending March 2022 when the disparity was 2.7.

There was a relatively larger increase when looking at the differential for black people, who had a disparity of 5.5 using this methodology (compared with 4.1 using the measure solely using self-defined ethnicity data), and a relatively smaller increase in the differential for Asian people, who had a disparity of 1.6 using this methodology (compared with 1.4 using the measure solely using self-defined ethnicity data). To see how this compares with the previous 2 reporting years, see the stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_19.

Disparity rates by reason for search

The following analysis uses a combination of self-defined ethnicity and officer-observed ethnicity.

There is some variation in the disparity rates depending on the reason why searches were conducted. For offensive weapon searches and searches under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, black people were searched at a rate 9.1 and 8.7 times higher than white people (compared with a disparity of 5.5 for all stop and searches). However, searches of black people for articles to commit criminal damage had a rate 1.5 times higher than white people (table 2.7).

Asian and ‘other or mixed’ individuals were less likely than white individuals to be stopped and searched for reasons of criminal damage (0.5 and 0.7 respectively).

Table 2.7: Stop and search disparity, compared with the white ethnic group, by reason for search, year ending March 2023

Reason for search	Asian (or Asian British)	Black (or black British)	Other ethnic group or mixed
Stolen property	1.1	6.2	2.0
Drugs	1.9	5.1	1.6
Firearms	2.5	7.3	1.8
Offensive weapons	1.6	9.1	1.9
Going equipped	0.9	2.4	1.2
Criminal damage	0.5	1.5	0.7
Other	2.2	5.8	2.0
s.60 CJPOA	3.3	8.7	2.3
All stop and search	1.6	5.5	1.6

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_40, Home Office

Notes:

1. Figures in the table show the disparity between the ethnic group shown and the white ethnic group.

Outcomes by self-defined and officer-observed ethnicity

Table 2.8 shows the outcome rates for each ethnic group. If the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched was ‘not stated’, then the officer-defined ethnicity is used instead.

People who self-defined their ethnicity as either black or ‘mixed or other’ (or perceived by the officer to belong to one of those ethnicities, if not stated) had an arrest rate of 15%. White people had an arrest rate of 13%, and people who self-defined or were perceived to be of Asian ethnicity had the lowest arrest rate (12%).

Table 2.8: Proportion of outcomes following a stop and search, by ethnic group

Outcome	Asian	Black	Mixed or other	White	Not known	All person searches
Arrest	12.0	14.7	15.2	13.4	9.1	13.5
Community resolution or cannabis warning	9.7	7.8	10.2	8.6	6.9	8.7
Penalty notice for disorder	2.1	2.1	1.6	0.7	0.4	1.2
Summons	1.7	1.5	1.5	1.6	0.9	1.5
Other	3.9	1.8	3.3	5.0	5.4	4.2
No further action	70.6	72.1	68.1	70.8	77.4	70.9

Source: Stop and search outcomes summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SSO_11, Home Office

Notes:

1. Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.
2. Does not include vehicle only searches.
3. Cannabis warnings and community resolutions are grouped as many police forces no longer issue cannabis warnings.
4. ‘Other’ outcomes include caution, voluntary attendance, verbal warning, seizure of property, guardian intervention or other action.

Resultant arrest by reason for search and ethnicity

The proportion of searches which result in an arrest differs by the reason for search, however differences between ethnic groups were on the whole small with a few exceptions.

Searches for firearms and stolen property resulted in some of the higher arrest rates. Almost one-quarter (23%) of searches of black and Asian people for firearms resulted in an arrest, a higher proportion compared to all other groups. Black (21%) and mixed or other ethnicity people (22%) also had a high arrest rate following searches for stolen property.

Table 2.9: Proportion of searches resulting in an arrest, by search reason and ethnic group, year ending March 2023, England and Wales

Reason for search	Asian or Asian British	Black or black British	Mixed or other	White	Unknown	Total
Criminal damage	19%	16%	17%	12%	5%	12%
Drugs	10%	13%	12%	11%	8%	11%
Firearms	23%	23%	22%	20%	16%	21%
Going equipped	14%	18%	21%	17%	10%	17%
Offensive weapons	16%	16%	19%	17%	11%	17%
Other	9%	8%	10%	9%	5%	9%
Stolen property	18%	21%	22%	21%	14%	21%
Anticipation of violence	4%	6%	5%	5%	2%	5%
Terrorism Act 2000 section 43	8%	14%	9%	10%	0%	10%
Total	12%	15%	15%	13%	9%	13%

Source:Stop and search open data tables, year ending 31 March 2021 to year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

2.6.2 Age of persons searched

Since the year ending March 2021, police forces have supplied data on the age and sex of people stopped and searched. During a stop and search, the person stopped may provide their date of birth, or an officer may estimate the person’s age where this information is refused or not provided.

The following analysis only includes records where the age of the person searched was provided and excludes vehicle-only searches.

About two-thirds (65%) of all stop and searches of persons in the year ending March 2023 were on people aged between 10 and 29 years old (331,160 out of 509,953 searches). Of these, 107,763 were aged between 10 and 17 (21% of the total), 157,467 were 18 to 24 (31% of the total) and 65,930 were 25 to 29 (13% of the total). Compared with the year ending March 2022, the proportion of people aged 10 to 17 and 30 or over has increased in the year ending March 2023.

Table 2.10: Proportion of stop and searches by age group, England and Wales, year ending March 2022 and year ending March 2023

Age group	Proportion in year ending March 2022	Proportion in year ending March 2023
Under 10	<0.1	<0.1
10 to 17	19.1	21.1
18 to 24	33.3	30.9
25 to 29	14.0	12.9
30 or over	33.6	35.0

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_30, Home Office

Notes:

1. There were 70 searches of those aged under 10 recorded in the year ending March 2022 and 64 in the year ending March 2023.
2. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100.

There were some differences in the age of people searched depending on the reason for search. For example, people aged between 10 and 17 made up 59% of criminal damage searches, but only 14% of drug searches. In contrast, people aged 30 and above made up just over half (52%) of section 43 TACT searches, 43% of searches for stolen property and 39% of searches for going equipped, but only 19% of searches under section 60 CJPOA (figure 2.7).

Figure 2.7: Proportion of stop and search by age of person searched and reason for search, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_31, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle only searches, searches where the age of the person searched was not known and searches with a recorded age of 9 and under (64 searches out of 509,953 searches where the age of the person searched was provided).

Resultant arrest rate of persons searched by age

The analysis described in the section above shows that most stop and search is carried out on young people, aged below 30 with 21% of all searches carried out on 10 to 17 year olds, 31% on 18 to 24 year olds and 13% on 25 to 29 year olds. The remaining 35% is carried out on people aged 30 and over.

Arrest rates however are lower for the younger age groups as shown in figure 2.8 below. Only 10% of searches on 10 to 17 year olds result in an arrest, compared with 12% of 18 to 24 year olds, 16% of 25 to 29 year olds and 17% of those aged 30 and over.

This is likely because younger age groups are dealt with more informally through warnings or community resolutions. The Code of Practice for youth conditional cautions states ‘Youth conditional cautions provide an opportunity, in appropriate cases, to achieve an early, positive response for those young people who are willing to admit their offending and to comply with certain conditions’.

Figure 2.8: Proportion of stop and searches resulting in arrest by age, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Sources: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_31 and SS_32, Home Office

2.6.3 Sex of persons searched

In this report, we refer to sex rather than gender of people stopped and searched. ‘Sex’ can be considered to refer to whether someone is male or female based on their physiology, with ‘gender’ representing a social construct or sense of self that takes a wider range of forms.

The data collection gives 4 options for the sex of the person searched: female, male, other and unknown. ‘Other’ may include people who define themselves as non-binary or transgender. However, only 20 of the 44 police forces recorded any stop and searches of people defined as ‘other’ sex. This suggests that different recording systems used by police forces have different levels of detail to which the sex of the person searched can be recorded. Additionally, it is likely that recording includes a mixture of physiological and personal identity.

The following analysis only includes records where the sex of the person searched was provided and excludes vehicle-only searches.

The majority (89%) of searches were of males and 11% of females. There were a small number of searches of people of ‘other’ sex (169 out of 522,664 searches of people where the sex was recorded).

There was little variation in the sex of person searched by the reason for search (figure 2.9) except that females were 17% of those searches for stolen property and only 6% of searches under section 60 CJPOA and 5% of searches under section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Figure 2.9: Proportion of stop and search by sex of person searched and reason for search, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_29, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle-only searches, and searches where the sex of the person searched was ‘other’ or not known.

There was also a small difference in the arrest rate between males and females. 14% of searches of males resulted in arrest, slightly higher than the arrest rate for females (11%).

2.6.4 Ethnicity, sex and age of persons searched

This section takes a more in-depth look at the sex, age and ethnicity of persons searched, and how the profile of people stopped and searched compares with the population of England and Wales. Stop and search figures in this section include only those with a known age and sex of the person searched. These figures are the number of stop and search incidents rather than number of unique individuals stopped and searched, that is, multiple searches on the same people are counted as separate incidents. Therefore, the rates in this section do not strictly refer to the proportion of the population (or sub-populations) that experienced stop and search in the year ending March 2023. Population rates quoted are based on the 2021 Census.

The following analysis only includes records where the age, sex and ethnicity of the person searched was provided and excludes vehicle-only searches.

Figure 2.10 shows the age and sex of persons searched compared with the population of England and Wales. This shows that stop and search is largely targeted at young males. For example, 63% of stop and searches in the year ending March 2023 were on males aged between 15 and 34, whilst this group makes up 13% of the overall population. Males aged 15 to 19 had the highest rate of stop and search, at 71 stop and searches per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023.

In contrast, females aged between 15 and 34 made up only 7% of stop and search, despite being 13% of the overall population. Searches of females aged 15 to 19 were roughly in proportion to their representation in the population (2.5% of searches compared with 2.8% of the population), however, at every other age group, the proportion of females searched is lower than their proportion of the population. For males, only those aged 9 and under, or over 49 were a lower proportion of stop and search than their proportion of the population.

There are disparities in the age of people searched, for both males and females. Males aged 15 to 19 were searched at a rate 7.2 times higher than those aged 45 to 49, and females aged 15 to 19 were searched at a rate 4.8 times higher than those aged 45 to 49.

Figure 2.10: Proportion of stop and search by age and sex of person compared with the population, year ending March 2023, England and Wales

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_33, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle-only searches, searches where the sex of the person searched was ‘other’ or not known and searches where the age of the person searched was not known.

Figures 2.11 and 2.12 show the age and sex of people stopped and searched in the year ending March 2023, split by whether the ethnicity of the person searched was white (including white minorities) or another ethnic group, and how that compares with the population of England and Wales within those ethnic groups. Where the self-defined ethnicity of the person searched is not stated, the officer-observed ethnicity is used instead. Searches where both the self-defined ethnicity and officer-observed ethnicity are unknown are not included in the stop and search proportions. People from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) are grouped together in this analysis due to sample size when splitting stop and search and population data by age and sex.

Figure 2.11: Proportion of stop and search conducted on white people, by age and sex of person, compared with the population, year ending March 2023, England and Wales

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_34, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle only searches, searches where the sex of the person searched was ‘other’ or not known and searches where the age of the person searched was not known.

Figure 2.12: Proportion of stop and search conducted on people from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities), by age and sex of person compared with the population, year ending March 2023, England and Wales

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_35, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include vehicle only searches, searches where the sex of the person searched was ‘other’ or not known and searches where the age of the person searched was not known.

Males aged 15 to 34 from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) made up 27% of stop and search in the year ending March 2023, despite only being 2.8% of the population. The highest rate of stop and search was for males aged 15 to 19 from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), who were searched at a rate of 111 per 1,000 people, a rate 2.0 times higher than white people of the same age group. For males from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic (not including white minorities) group, only those aged 9 and under, or aged 55 and above, made up a lower proportion of stop and search than their proportion of the population. However, for females from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), all age groups made up a lower proportion of total stop and search than their proportion of the population.

Resultant arrest rate by age and ethnicity

Looking at how the arrest rate differs across age groups between the different ethnic groups shows that the black and mixed or other groups are most likely to be arrested in the age categories 10 to 17 (13% resultant arrest rate for both groups), 18 to 24 (14% resultant arrest rate for both groups) and 30 or over (18% resultant arrest rate for black people, 19% resultant arrest rate for people of mixed or other ethnicity). However, white people were most likely to be arrested in the 25 to 29 age group (16% resultant arrest rate).

In contrast to this, white people aged 10 to 17 were least likely to be arrested, with only 8% of searches resulting in arrest. People of Asian ethnicity were least likely to be arrested in the age groups 18 to 24 (10% resultant arrest rate), 25 to 29 (13% resultant arrest rate) and 30 or over (17% resultant arrest rate).

Figure 2.13: Proportion of stop and searches resulting in arrest by age and ethnicity, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_36, Home Office

2.7 Stop and search by Police Force Area (PFA)

2.7.1 Headline trends in stop and search by PFA

The MPS continued to account for a large proportion of all stop and searches^{[footnote 7]} conducted in England and Wales (32% in the year ending March 2023), though this proportion has been reducing in recent years. In the year ending March 2022 the MPS made up 40% of the total number of searches, and the year ending March 2021, in which the MPS made up 44% of stop and search.

When looking at the use of stop and search in different police forces, a traditional approach is to list rates of stop and search per head of resident population, using population figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This allows for more meaningful comparisons between areas than only using the number of searches in that area. However, calculating the rate based on the resident population has several limitations, such as not including the number of commuters and tourists in areas with a noticeable increase of non-residents. Additionally, looking at the rate across the Police Force Area (PFA) as a whole masks variation within the area (see Annex A.2 for analysis of stop and search within PFAs). Lastly, looking at the overall population within a PFA ignores that the evidence shows that stop and search is particularly concentrated on young men (see sections 2.6.2 and 2.6.3 – Age and sex of persons stopped and searched).

PFA analysis to compare overall rates per 1,000 population and disparity rates for each ethnic group compared with the white group can be found in section 2.6.1 (Ethnicity of persons searched).

In England and Wales there were 9 stop and searches per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023. Merseyside PFA had the highest rate at 37 per 1,000 population^{[footnote 8]}, followed by Metropolitan Police Service PFA, which had a rate of 20 per 1,000 population (figure 2.14). These 2 police forces have had the highest rates of stop and search in each year since the year ending March 2018.

Figure 2.14: Stop and search per 1,000 population, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_20, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes stop and searches under section 1 of PACE and associated legislation, and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

2.7.2 Resultant arrest rates by Police Force Area

Searches conducted under both section 1 PACE and section 60 CJPOA resulted in a 14% arrest rate in England and Wales for the year ending March 2023 (figure 2.15). By comparison, stop and searches in the City of London resulted in the highest arrest rate (30%) followed by Sussex (21%). Merseyside had the lowest arrest rate, with 7% of searches leading to an arrest.

Figure 2.15: Arrest rate following a stop and search, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_20, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes stop and searches under section 1 of PACE and associated legislation, and section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

While an arrest is one possible outcome of a stop and search, there are other outcomes that could show a successful search, including the issuing of police cautions, cannabis or khat warnings, community resolutions and summonses. These are included in the stop and search outcomes section (section 2.6).

Resultant arrest rates by ethnicity and Police Force Area

Looking at the proportion of arrests by ethnicity across different PFAs and comparing it against the stop and search rates does not show any notable patterns or relationship. For example, forces with some of the highest stop and search rates of people from a black ethnic background such as Merseyside, Cumbria, Dorset, Dyfed-Powys and Metropolitan Police did not necessarily show the highest resultant arrest rates, with these force areas reporting a range of arrest rates (10%, 38%, 12%, 25% and 17% respectively).

2.7.3 All outcomes following a stop and search by Police Force Area

Figure 2.16 shows the outcome rate for each Police Force Area in the year ending March 2023. The figures are broken down by searches that resulted in action being taken as part of the old outcome framework (which included arrest, summons, caution, khat or cannabis warning, penalty notice for disorder or a community resolution), or as part of the new outcome framework (voluntary attendance, verbal warning or words of advice, seizure of property, guardian intervention or other action). Due to inconsistency between forces in how the new outcome framework is being applied, the figures should be interpreted with caution.

Based only on the old outcome framework, Cambridgeshire Constabulary had the highest percentage of searches where action was taken (37%). Overall (across both frameworks), City of London Police had the highest proportion of searches where action was taken (44%).

Figure 2.16: Outcome rate following a stop and search, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search outcomes summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SSO_10, Home Office

2.8 Stop and search hotspots

The Home Office stop and search data collection was expanded in April 2020 to include more detailed information on the locations that stop and search take place (6 digit x and y coordinates), meaning that hotspots (areas of high stop and search activity hotspots within a Police Force Area) can be identified. This section contains information on stop and search hotspots conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London, as well as Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police, Lincolnshire Police, Dorset Police and North Wales Police. These areas have been selected as they provided good quality x and y co-ordinate data and allow comparisons to be made between areas with large urban centres with more rural areas.

Table 2.11 shows the percentage of LSOAs within a PFA that 25%, 50% and 75% of searches take place in. This shows a consistent pattern between areas, where about half of stop and search takes place in 6% to 10% of LSOAs.

Table 2.11: Percentage of stop and search that takes place in 25%, 50% and 75% of LSOAs within selected PFAs, year ending March 2023

			% of LSOAs
Percentage of search total	Metropolitan Police	Greater Manchester Police	West Midlands	Lincolnshire	Dorset	North Wales
25%	2.0	1.2	0.9	1.8	1.5	2.9
50%	9.0	8.0	6.3	6.7	6.7	10.1
75%	25.5	26.3	21.9	20.7	18.6	26.1

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

2.9 Whether force was used in a stop and search

A ‘use of force’ incident is defined as a situation in which a police officer uses any restraint tactics such as handcuffing, equipment such as a baton or a less lethal weapons such as TASER®. For a full list of tactics please see the user guide.

During a stop and search, a police officer may deem it necessary to use a force tactic.

In the year ending March 2023, police forces have started to provide voluntary data on whether force was used during a stop and search. 22 of 44 police forces provided this data, accounting for 70% (383,460) of the total number of stop and searches in the year ending March 2023. Figures should be interpreted with caution, as they may reflect differences in recording standards between forces, and ability to link up stop and search records with use of force records, which may be held on different systems.

Where the information was provided, force was used in 28% of stop and searches (108,633 of 383,460 searches where the information as available). The Metropolitan Police Service had the highest number (63,606 out of 177,490) and proportion (36%) of searches in which force was used. Thames Valley Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary each used force in 35% of their stop and searches, closely followed by Cambridgeshire Constabulary (34%).

2.10 Stop and search data quality

Since the year ending March 2021, under the Home Office Annual Data Requirement (ADR), police forces have supplied stop and search data in an incident-level format, increasing the opportunities for analysis. Though the format of the collection has changed, it is not expected to have any meaningful effect on the trends in stop and search at the national level.

As part of this data collection, police forces were supplied with reports to highlight potential issues with the data they supplied, including:

• duplicate records
• records with unusual age values
• incorrect date or time data
• any unusual changes in stop and search volumes

After reviewing these issues, some police forces submitted revised data sets. Home Office analysts will continue to work with police forces to improve the quality of the stop and search data they provide under the ADR.

Although the ethnicity analysis in this commentary focusses only on aggregated ethnic groups (white, black, Asian, mixed or other), the accompanying open data breaks data down into the 19+1 self-defined ethnicity groups (such as, white British, white Irish, other white).

Data presented here has been provided to the Home Office by 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales and the British Transport Police (BTP). Since the year ending March 2010, BTP have been providing data to the Home Office. Data on total searches before this period is therefore not directly comparable with more recent years. However, as BTP typically only makes up just over 1.5% of all stop and searches each year, not including them only has a marginal effect on the longer-term time series.

The figures presented are correct at the time of publication and may include revisions submitted by forces for previous years.

For some years, certain forces were not able to provide all the requested breakdowns of the data; for example, the reason for some stop and searches or the ethnicity of the person searched may not have been provided for all cases. Such cases have been outlined in the relevant table notes. To make sure data is comparable over time, some forces may not be included in annual comparisons. These cases have been highlighted.

The user guide provides further information on the quality assurance checks on the data, as well as details relating to definitions, legislation and procedure around stop and search.

Since April 2021, the Home Office has also collected data on reason for arrest. The aim of collecting this data is to understand how effectively the police are using stop and search powers, for example if the reason for arrest is aligned with the reason for search it would be implied that this was a successful search. Data quality checks showed that some forces will by default provide the same reason for arrest as for reason for search or they record all reasons for arrest as other. For the first time this data has been presented in the summary tables as experimental statistics to denote that there are known data quality issues.

Information on person identification is also collected from police forces on a voluntary basis. A person ID should relate to a unique individual. The purpose of collecting this data is to understand the extent to which people are repeatedly stopped and searched. However, analysis of this data has shown that for a large proportion of records, person_ID is either missing or has not been recorded correctly (for example, it is clear from demographic information that the same person ID has been used for different individuals). There are operational difficulties with recording this data as when an individual is stopped and searched they are not required to provide personal information.

Similarly, good quality data for self-defined ethnicity is reliant on the individual who is stopped and searched to provide this information, which they are not required to tell the police officer. As stated earlier in this chapter, 20% of stop and search records (not including vehicle-only searches) are missing ethnicity data. To help close this gap we have used officer-defined ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity is not stated.

Future data collection

Given recent high-profile cases in the media on strip searches following a stop and search, the Home Office has plans to expand on the information collected on the nature of a stop and search. Currently, the Home Office collects information on whether a person’s outer clothing was removed (this is collected on a voluntary basis). The Home Office seeks to collect more detailed information on the level of search, including whether it was a More Thorough Search or Exposes Intimate Parts.

The Home Office is also seeking to expand the information collected on reasons for search including a Serious Violence Reduction Order (SVRO) and drones.

Note that new data requirements are usually introduced on a voluntary basis in the first year to allow police forces to update their systems and embed recording practices.

2.11 Other sources of data related to stop and search

Quarterly figures for stop and searches conducted in Great Britain under the Terrorism Act 2000 appear in the Home Office series Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000.

MOJ publishes a biennial Race and the criminal justice system series that includes data supplied by the Home Office on stop and search. The latest publication was released in December 2021.

The Metropolitan Police Service publishes monthly reports and a dashboard on the use of stop and search by the force. Other forces may publish similar reports.

The Home Office also publishes annual figures on police use of force incidents in England and Wales.

Stakeholder engagement and new analysis in this release

For the first time in the year ending March 2021, the Home Office collected incident-level data on stop and search from police forces. This means that each row of data relates to a single incident of stop and search. This publication contains data from the third year of the incident-level data collection.

The improved method of data collection, as well as the additional data collected, allows for more in-depth analysis of stop and search in England and Wales than was previously possible. More information on the change to the data collection is available in the year ending March 2021 release.

Due to the improved collection, and in response to the Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities report, Home Office officials have worked with force representatives, stakeholders, and users of this publication to understand what more could be done to improve this release, which has led to additional analysis. Home Office analysts have worked closely with the Race Disparity Unit to ensure it meets the Inclusive Britain actions (14 and 15) in which the Home Office has committed to improving the use of its stop and search data. Examples of this include the ‘hotspot’ analysis and the stop and search rates by police force area by ethnicity (see Annex A.1).

To improve the user experience and address these actions, analysts have also developed a disparity time series for stop and search and arrests data. This allows even those users with little experience in Microsoft Excel to explore the data and review how the rate of search of different ethnic groups has changed in each Police Force Area over time. This publication also includes new outcomes analysis by ethnicity, reason for arrest tables and weapons found by reason for search tables. For the first time, stop and search rates have been presented separately in the summary tables for England and Wales (previously rates were published for England and Wales as a whole).

Moreover, analysts have developed a stop and search data tool to query the open data tables. This allows users with beginner Excel skills to produce customised data tables more easily.

Findings from an engagement survey conducted in Spring 2022 showed that most people who accessed the statistics had an interest in policing in their local area.

Data on stop and searches at Community Safety Partnership level was therefore published for the first time in the year ending March 2022 release, and is again included as part of this release. This data can be found in the stop and search summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table SS_47.

In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics and as part of our commitment to continuous development and improving the statistics, we invite users to provide feedback on the statistics and analysis within this bulletin and associated data tables. Users can contact Home Office statisticians at policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

2.12 National statistics status

These statistics have been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority to make sure that they continue to meet the standards required for National statistics. This means that these statistics; meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While the new method of data collection at the incident-level has yet to be specifically assessed, the source of the data (police stop and search records) remains the same and it is only the format in which the Home Office receives the data that has changed.

The Home Office worked closely with the UK Statistics Authority to improve information on the quality and limitations of the various datasets, and the ways in which the Home Office engages with users of the statistics. This is documented in the user guide, which is published alongside this release.

Given the known issues around the quality of the data, statistics in this release on outcomes and whether the outcome was linked to the reason for the search (formerly referred to as ‘Best Use of Stop and Search’ data) are Official statistics, and not National statistics.

3.1 Introduction to arrests

This section includes data on the police power of arrest^{[footnote 9]}. In line with police recorded crime statistics, the arrest collection covers only arrests for notifiable offences^{[footnote 10]} carried out by police in England and Wales. Further, in this collection, an arrest is counted for each separate occasion a person is arrested, provided that the offences are not linked. If the arrest is connected, or if a person has been arrested for one or more notifiable offences at the same time, only one arrest is counted and the offence with the highest maximum penalty should be recorded. Therefore, it does not provide a measure of all arrests made by the police.

The Home Office requests data from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales on arrests made during the financial year. Devon and Cornwall were not able to provide data for the year ending March 2023, due to a transition to a new record management system in November 2022. As data was not migrated correctly, they are not able to provide accurate arrests data. This issue has also affected their other data returns to the Home Office. Furthermore, Lancashire Constabulary were not able to provide data between the years ending March 2017 to March 2019, also due to a migration to a new record management system. To ensure comparability with previous years, Devon and Cornwall and Lancashire’s data has been estimated for each of these years. The estimates have been calculated by inflating their data from the previous financial year in line with the overall percentage change for England and Wales. For example, Devon and Cornwall’s data for the year ending March 2023 has been estimated at 14,619 arrests, around a 2% increase from their total number of arrests in the year ending March 2022 (in line with the overall increase for England and Wales). Proportions of category breakdowns have been kept the same between years.

The Home Office does not receive data on arrests from the British Transport Police (BTP).

Figures on arrests reported to the Home Office reflect police activity and do not indicate total levels of crime committed by offenders. For example, the number of arrests for drug offences is greatly dependent on police activities and priorities and does not give a reliable indication of trends in the level of drug offending. Data on crime in England and Wales is available here: Crime and justice - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). Additionally, not all suspects of crime are arrested and are instead invited to voluntarily attend an interview.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) amended the offence groups for the police recorded crime series in the year ending March 2013. Since the publication of ‘Police powers and procedures’ in October 2016, arrests data collected by the Home Office on the reason for arrest is in line with the ONS crime groups. For this reason, data from year ending March 2016 on the reason for arrest is not directly comparable with earlier years.

Further detail on data quality and interpreting figures can be found in section 3.9.

3.2 Main results - Arrests

In the year ending March 2023, 668,979 arrests were made in England and Wales (based on data from 42 police forces and estimated data for Devon and Cornwall). This was an increase of 2% compared with the year ending March 2022 (in which there were 654,597 arrests).

Around two-thirds (65%) of the overall increase in arrests was accounted for by theft offences.

The pattern across forces was mixed. Of the 42 police forces that provided data in the year ending March 2023, 25 forces showed an increased number of arrests compared with the year ending March 2022, while 17 police forces made fewer arrests.

As with previous years, the Metropolitan Police had the greatest number of arrests (15% or 99,169 of total arrests), although the number of arrests made by the MPS and proportion of all arrests in England and Wales has decreased in the last 5 years.

Those aged 20 and under accounted for 17% of arrests, down from 39% of arrests in the year ending March 2007 (when the data series first began). There has been a shift towards those aged 21 and over making up the majority of arrests, 83% in the latest year.

3.3 Trends in the number of arrests

In the year ending March 2023 there were 668,979 arrests carried out by territorial police forces in England and Wales. This was an increase of 2% from the 654,597 arrests in the year ending March 2022.

In the decade between the years ending March 2008 and March 2018 the number of arrests halved (from 1,475,266 to 693,681), but have since levelled off (figure 3.1). The number of arrests decreased slightly during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (likely due to the lockdown periods when people’s movements were restricted and many businesses were shut), however they have now returned to numbers similar to before the pandemic.

Over the past 10 years the proportion of arrests accounted for by males has remained consistent at around 85%.

Figure 3.1: Number of arrests, by sex, England and Wales, years ending March 2007 to 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.01, Home Office

Notes:

1. In the years ending March 2021 onwards ‘other’ and ‘unknown’ sex were also collected, however these make up just 2,091 arrests (0.3% of total arrests) in the year ending March 2023.

3.4 Arrests by offence group

Offence data is collected in 10 broader categories:

• criminal damage and arson
• drug offences
• fraud offences
• miscellaneous crimes against society
• possession of weapons offences
• public order offences
• robbery
• sexual offences
• theft offences
• violence against the person

A breakdown of the offences included in each category are listed within the Home Office counting rules notifiable offences list.

Almost half of all arrests made by police in England and Wales were connected with violence against the person offences (46%). The next most common offence group was theft, which was 13% of all arrests (figure 3.2). The proportion of arrests in each offence group has changed compared to 7 years ago (when the offence groupings changed), with the proportion of violence against the person offences up from 35% 7 years ago, and theft offences down from 22% 7 years ago.

Figure 3.2: Proportion of arrests in each offence group, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.02, Home Office

Notes:

1. Other reasons for arrest include criminal damage and arson (6%), miscellaneous crimes against society (5%), possession of weapons offences (3%), sexual offences (6%), robbery (2%) and fraud offences (1%). A full breakdown of reasons for arrests is in table 3.1.

A comparison of the arrests series to the recorded crime series shows a difference in the distribution of offence groupings. For example, violence against the person offences made up a higher proportion of arrests (46%) than the 31% they accounted for in police recorded crime in the year ending March 2023^{[footnote 11]}. Just over one-quarter (26%) of all police recorded crime were theft offences, but made up only 13% of all arrests. Another notable difference was fraud, which made up just 1% of all arrests but 17% of all recorded crime (figure 3.3 below).

Direct comparisons between the 2 series should be made with caution since arrests relate to persons (suspects) and recorded crime relates to offences. For example, one offence may be committed by multiple offenders and therefore may generate several arrests. Conversely an offender may be arrested for committing 2 or more recorded crimes (such as shoplifting and possession of drugs) but only one arrest will be recorded. In addition, some offences can be resolved without the use of an arrest, for example, through the issuing of a fixed penalty notice or cannabis warning. Finally, some crimes take longer to investigate than others and therefore some arrests reported in this year’s collection may relate to crimes recorded in a previous year.

As noted in Crime outcomes in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 statistical bulletin, in recent years police forces have been dealing with both an increase in crime and a more complex crime mix. This is thought to have contributed to a downward trend in both the number and proportion of crimes resulting in a charge or summons and a growth in the proportion of cases in which victims do not support police action. This provides important context to the statistics on arrests presented here. Data on the outcomes assigned to police recorded crime, as well as the median length of time taken to assign an outcome by offence group, can be found in the ‘Crime outcomes, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.

Figure 3.3: Offence group breakdowns of persons arrested in England and Wales and police recorded crime, year ending March 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.02, Home Office and ONS Crime Statistics

The change in the number of arrests in the year ending March 2023 varied across different offence groups, with 6 offence groups showing an increase in the number of arrests, and 4 groups showing a decrease (table 3.1).

Arrests for theft offences rose from 79,073 in the year ending March 2022 to 88,401 in the year ending March 2023, an increase of 12% (up by 9,328). This was the largest volume increase across the offence groups, accounting for almost two-thirds (65%) of the total rise in arrests (up by 14,382). This was the first time the number of people arrested for theft offences increased in the 7 years for which comparable data was collected, however is similar to 2 years ago.

After a sharp increase of 31% in arrests for sexual offences between the years ending March 2021 and March 2022 (from 29,829 to 39,207), the number of arrests for this offence type have remained at a similar volume (39,025) in the year ending March 2023. The increased volume of arrests for sexual offences in the last 2 years may reflect a number of factors, including the effect of high-profile incidents, media coverage, and campaigns on people’s willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims. Prior to the pandemic, the number of police recorded sexual offences was well below the number of victims estimated in the Crime survey for England and Wales.

Table 3.1: Offence group breakdowns of persons arrested in England and Wales, year ending March 2022 compared with year ending March 2023

Offence group	Year ending 31 March 2022	Year ending 31 March 2023	Change (number)	Change (%)
Violence against the person	303,956	307,013	3,057	1%
Theft offences	79,073	88,401	9,328	12%
Drug offences	59,519	60,013	494	1%
Public order offences	53,090	52,269	-821	-2%
Criminal damage and arson	45,902	42,945	-2,957	-6%
Sexual offences	39,207	39,025	-182	-0.5%
Miscellaneous crimes against society	33,545	36,367	2,822	8%
Possession of weapons offences	21,445	22,710	1,265	6%
Robbery	13,261	15,307	2,046	15%
Fraud offences	5,599	4,929	-670	-12%
Total	654,597	668,979	14,382	2%

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.02, Home Office

Although the overall number of arrests is similar to 5 years ago (down 4%), changes by offence type has varied. There have been generally increasing trends in arrests for violence against the person (up 15% in 5 years) and decreasing trends in arrests for criminal damage and arson (down 15%), fraud (down 48%) and theft (down 37%). Other offence groups, such as sexual offences, public order offences and drug offences, have had more mixed changes over time.

Although fraud offences had the greatest percentage fall in the past 5 years, as the smallest offence group it has had little impact on the overall change in arrests over time. Theft offences however has had a more substantial volume reduction of 52,806 arrests. This was counter-balanced by a volume increase of 40,387 arrests for violence against the person.

Figure 3.4: Number of arrests, by offence group, England and Wales, years ending March 2016 to March 2023

Source: Arrests open data tables, Home Office

Notes:

1. Following a change in offence groups (in the year ending March 2016) it is believed that a number of police forces are incorrectly recording some ‘public order’ offences against ‘miscellaneous crimes against society’. Caution should therefore be exercised when comparing these offences over time and across forces.

3.5 Arrests by sex

The data collection has been set up with 4 options for the sex of the person searched: female, male, other and unknown. It is likely that recording includes a mixture of sex and gender, and ‘other’ may comprise people who define themselves as non-binary or transgender. However, only 14 of the 43 police forces recorded any arrests of people defined as ‘other’. This suggests that different recording systems used by police forces have different levels of detail to which the sex of the person arrested can be recorded. This bulletin reports on data in the format it is collected from the police, and Home Office continues to work with stakeholders to bring this data in line with Government Statistical Service sex and gender harmonisation standards.

The majority of arrests in the year ending March 2023 were of males (85% of arrests excluding unknowns or 566,179 arrests), a percentage that has been stable for more than 10 years. This is slightly lower than both the proportion of stop and searches that were of males (89%) and the proportion of stop and searches resulting in arrest that were of males (91%).

Both males and females were most commonly arrested for violence against the person offences, accounting for 44% of all male arrests and 56% of all female arrests. This was followed by arrests for theft offences (13% for both males and females).

However, there were some differences in arrest patterns for males and females. For example, though making up 15% of overall arrests (100,709 arrests), females have consistently made up a very small proportion of those arrested for sexual offences (2%) and possession of weapons offences (9%), but a larger proportion of those arrested for fraud offences (23%). Figure 3.5 shows the split by sex for each offence type.

Figure 3.5: Proportion of arrests by sex and offence group, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.02, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include arrests of people identified as ‘other’ (147 arrests) and those whose sex was recorded as unknown (1,944 arrests).

3.6 Arrests by age

Data on arrests by age is collected using the following 5 categories:

• aged 9 and under
• aged 10 to 17
• aged 18 to 20
• aged 21 and above
• age unknown

The legal minimum age for prosecution in England and Wales is 10 years old; the ‘age 9 and under’ category includes persons who, after further investigation, were found to be too young to be charged with an offence.

The analysis in this section excludes those whose age was unknown or those aged under 9.

The majority (83%) of all arrestees in the year ending March 2023 were aged 21 and above, a similar proportion to last year (84%). In comparison, 76% of the general population are aged 21 and above. Analysing the reasons for arrest showed some variation by age-group; for example, although 17% of all arrests were of persons aged 20 and under, they made up over half (52%) of arrests for robbery offences and 30% of arrests for possession of weapons offences. The majority of fraud offences (90%) were of people aged 21 and above. Figure 3.6 shows the number of persons arrested by offence type and age-group.

Figure 3.6: Age-group of persons arrested, by offence type, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.03, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include those whose age was unknown (0.08% or 552 arrests) or those aged 9 or under (4 arrests).

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (year ending March 2021), arrests decreased in all age groups, however they decreased most sharply for children (down by 19%).

In the year ending March 2023, whilst the number of arrests of people aged 21 and over has returned to and exceeded pre-pandemic levels (up 1% since the year ending March 2020), the number of arrests of children aged 17 and under remains 6% lower than 3 years ago, and arrests of people aged 18 to 20 continues to decline after the pandemic and are down 13% compared to the year ending March 2020.

These changes are in line with the long-term trend over the past decade that has seen a shift towards an older age profile. As figure 3.7 shows, arrests across all 3 age-groups showed decreases over the past decade, but these reductions were more significant for those aged 20 and under compared with those aged 21 and over. Following the long-term decreasing trend, the 21 and over group showed little change from the year ending March 2018, but more recently it has started to show increases, now comprising 83% of all arrests compared with 61% in the year ending March 2007.

Figure 3.7: Number of arrests (indexed to 100 in the year ending March 2007) by age group, England and Wales, years ending March 2007 to 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.01b, Home Office

Notes:

1. Index numbers are calculated by dividing the number of arrests in each financial year by the number of arrests in the year ending March 2007 (the base year) multiplied by 100. This shows the relative change in the number of arrests over time compared to the year ending March 2007.

3.7 Arrests by ethnicity

When an individual is arrested, they are asked to define their ethnicity (using the 2021 Census 19+1 categories). For the purpose of this analysis, these are grouped into the following Census 5+1 categories:

• white
• black (or black British)
• Asian (or Asian British) - including Chinese from the year ending March 2020 onwards
• mixed
• other ethnic group - included Chinese for the years before March 2020
• not stated

In the year ending March 2023 around 13% of arrestees did not state their ethnicity. Where the ethnicity of the person arrested was known, 78% of those defined their ethnicity as white, 8% as black and 8% as Asian. The remaining considered themselves either of mixed ethnicity (4%) or any other ethnic group (2%).

Since the year ending March 2022, all ethnic groups saw increases in the number of arrests except the black ethnic group (which showed a 4% decrease). It is important to bear in mind however, that due to a system change the Metropolitan Police Service have reported an increased number of records (from 4% to 25%) where the self-defined ethnicity information is missing. As the Metropolitan Police account for 15% of all arrests made, and have a much more ethnically diverse population compared with the England and Wales average, this is likely to have had an impact on the levels of missing data and changes shown in table 3.2 below. Additionally, many other forces improved their ethnicity data this year. Excluding the Metropolitan Police, the proportion of arrests where the person’s ethnicity was not known fell from 17% to 11% in the last year.

The Asian and ‘other’ ethnic groups showed the greatest increases, each by 9%, followed by people from a mixed ethnic background (up 7%) and white people (up 5%). Combined, the number of arrests of people from all minority ethnic groups (not including white minorities) increased by 3%.

Table 3.2: Ethnic breakdown of persons arrested in England and Wales, year ending March 2023 compared with year ending March 2022

Self-defined ethnicity	Year ending 31 March 2022	Year ending 31 March 2023	% change
Asian (or Asian British)	42,404	46,396	9%
Black (or black British)	51,326	49,243	-4%
Mixed	20,105	21,555	7%
White	433,535	456,393	5%
Other ethnic group	9,796	10,656	9%
Not stated	97,431	84,736	-13%
All minority ethnic groups (not including white minorities)	123,631	127,850	3%
Total	654,597	668,979	2%

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.04, Home Office

The following analysis considers the ethnicity of those arrested relative to the population as a whole, by calculating arrest rates for each ethnic group. Population data is based on the 2021 census. The relative ratios presented in this section give an indication of the difference in arrest rates for people from black, Asian, mixed and other ethnic backgrounds compared with those who identify as white.

Since the last full release of this bulletin, this analysis has been updated from using the Census 2011 population to using the 2021 Census population. The 2021 Census showed an increase in the proportions of people identifying as each of black, Asian, mixed and other ethnic groups compared to 2011. The updated analysis using the 2021 Census population has therefore reduced disparity rates in all minority ethnic groups (excluding white minorities). The impact of this on the year ending March 2022 arrests disparities was described in an ad-hoc release which was made available on GOV.UK in March 2023 (and shown below in table 3.3).

Persons who identified as black or black British were arrested at a rate 2.2 times higher than those who identified themselves as white (down from 2.4 and 2.6 times each of the last 2 years); and people of mixed ethnicity were arrested at a rate 1.3 times higher (table 3.3).

Those who identified as Asian (or Asian British) or of other ethnicity were both arrested at a lower rate than white people (0.9 times the rate). Previously when this analysis had been conducted using the 2011 census population estimates, it had shown that Asian and other ethnicities were arrested at a higher rate compared to people from white backgrounds.

Table 3.3: Arrest rates per 1,000 population and disparity rates (compared with the white ethnic group) by self-defined ethnicity, England and Wales, years ending March 2022 and 2023

Self-defined ethnicity	Year ending March 2022 - disparity rate using 2011 population	Year ending March 2022 - disparity rate using census 2021 population	Year ending March 2023 - arrest rate per 1,000 population	Year ending March 2023 - disparity rate using census 2021 population
Asian (or Asian British)	1.1	0.9	8	0.9
Black (or black British)	3.1	2.4	20	2.2
Mixed	1.8	1.3	13	1.3
White	*	*	9	*
Other	1.9	0.9	8	0.9
Total	*	*	11	*

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.04, Home Office

Notes:

1. ‘*’ = Not applicable

3.8 Arrests by police force area (PFA)

Of the 42 forces in England and Wales that were able to provide data^{[footnote 12]}, 25 showed an increase in the number of arrests in the year ending March 2023 compared with the year ending March 2022, while 17 forces showed a decrease.

As with previous years, the Metropolitan Police had the greatest number of arrests (15% of total arrests) - similar to police recorded crime where it accounted for 16% of total crimes (not including fraud). Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Thames Valley and West Midlands each also made up 5 to 7% of total arrests, whereas most forces account for less than 3%.

In the following section, arrest rate per force population has been calculated using the 2021 census population estimates.

The number of arrests expressed per 1,000 people of the population in England and Wales^{[footnote 13]} was 11 in the year ending March 2023. This varied by PFA^{[footnote 14]} with the highest rate in Cleveland (20 per 1,000). The lowest arrest rates, at 7 arrests per 1,000 members of the population, were found in the Warwickshire and Dorset PFAs. In comparison, there were 94 police recorded crimes (not including fraud) per 1,000 population in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023.

Differences in the proportion of arrestees from ethnic minority backgrounds (not including white minorities) in some PFAs are likely to, in part, reflect the differing resident and day-time populations in those areas. For example, the proportion of those arrested who identified as black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic background ranged from 3% in Dyfed-Powys to 56% in the Metropolitan Police Service area. Population data from the 2021 Census shows that in Dyfed-Powys the combined population of black, Asian, mixed and other ethnic groups was 3%, whereas in the Metropolitan Police area it was 46%. However, comparisons in arrest rates between areas should be made with caution because population breakdowns are based on residents of a particular area (such as they do not include visitors).

Figure 3.8: Number of persons arrested per 1,000 population, by Police Force Area, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, table A.05, Home Office

Notes:

1. Calculated using mid-2022 population estimates for England and Wales supplied by the Office for National Statistics, which are based on the results of the 2021 census.
2. City of London rates not shown due to the small resident population of the area relative to the transient or visiting population. City of London figures have been included in the England and Wales total.
3. Devon and Cornwall Police are not able to separately identify the primary arrest in a series of reasons for arrests. Due to this, these forces’ data includes all arrests for notifiable offences and are not directly comparable with other forces.

3.9 Arrests data quality and interpreting figures

The figures presented are correct at the time of publication and include revisions submitted by forces for the previous years.

Estimated data

The Home Office requests data from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales on arrests made during the financial year. Devon and Cornwall were not able to provide data for the year ending March 2023, due to a transition to a new record management system in November 2022. As data was not migrated correctly, they are not able to provide accurate arrests data. This issue has also affected their other data returns to the Home Office. Furthermore, Lancashire Constabulary were not able to provide data between the years ending March 2017 to March 2019, also due to a migration to a new record management system. Therefore, to ensure comparability with previous years, Devon and Cornwall and Lancashire’s data has been estimated for each of these years. The estimates have been calculated by inflating their data from the previous financial year in line with the overall percentage change for England and Wales. For example, Devon and Cornwall’s data for the year ending March 2023 has been estimated at 14,619 arrests, around a 2% increase from their total number of arrests in the year ending March 2022 (the same as the overall increase for England and Wales). Proportions of category breakdowns have been kept the same between years.

Revisions

Sometimes police forces wish to submit revisions to previous years’ data. The following revisions were made upon publication of these statistics on 26 September 2023.

This year we have received revisions by North Yorkshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire for 2021 to 2022 (a decrease of 670 arrests) and a revision from North Yorkshire for 2020 2021 (a decrease of 1,393 arrests).

Where a person has been arrested for one or more notifiable offence on the same occasion, forces are asked to record the arrest against the offence with the highest maximum penalty (the primary arrest). Some police forces use alternative methods to select the primary arrest, for example the offence flagged as the “main” offence on the arrest record, or the offence with the highest Crime Harm Index.

North Yorkshire, North Wales Cambridgeshire and Gloucestershire have all changed their methodology in the last year for counting number of arrests.

North Yorkshire were previously unable to identify the primary reason for arrest where a person had been arrested for multiple offences and had therefore counted every offence as a separate arrest (overcounting the number of arrests). This year they changed their methodology to only report the primary reason for arrest. North Yorkshire also resubmitted their data for the years ending March 2021 and March 2022, which led to decreases of around 14 to 15% in their number of arrests in these 2 years.

In previous years, Cambridgeshire had only considered the first offence where a person had been arrested for multiple offences, and Gloucestershire only considered the offence flagged on their recording system as a “main” offence. They therefore had not reported arrests where the first or “main” offence was non-notifiable and a second offence was notifiable. This year both forces amended their methodology to consider all offences associated with an arrest. Cambridgeshire also resubmitted 2021 to 2022 data using this change in methodology, resulting in a 11% increase in arrests.

Devon and Cornwall Police are not able to separately identify the primary arrest in a series of reasons for arrests. Due to this, their data includes all arrests for notifiable offences and are not directly comparable with other forces. Kent Police have only been able to identify primary arrests since November 2018, so caution should be taken when interpreting their data from the years ending March 2020 to March 2022 with previous years. These forces have minimal effect on national totals and have therefore been included in the England and Wales total.

The following revised data was received following the original publication of these statistics and a revised version of these statistics were published on 14 March 2024.

North Wales were also previously unable to identify the primary reason for arrest and were reporting all offences as separate arrests. Following the first edition of this publication in September 2023, North Wales revised their March 2022 and March 2023 data, which led to decreases of 53% in their number of arrests in each year and a decrease in the number of arrests in England and Wales of 1.2% each year.

Data collection

In this collection, an arrest is counted for each occasion a person is arrested, provided that the arrest is for an offence which is not related to an offence for which the person has already been subject to arrest during the same year. However, some forces are not able to link separate arrests for connected offences if a new arrest record was created for the second arrest. Therefore, there may be some instances in the dataset where arrests for connected offences may be counted more than once.

The Home Office does not collect data on outcome following arrest.

3.10 Other sources for data related to arrests

The Home Office also publishes experimental statistics on people detained in police custody and voluntary attendance of police interview in custody as part of the annual Police powers and procedures: Other PACE powers bulletin. The most recently published data is for the year ending March 2023.

While some ethnic breakdowns are provided here, more detailed figures and analyses are published by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). The latest edition of its Statistics on ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System series was published in December 2021. Figures presented relate to the period up to and including the financial year ending March 2020 and data may be more recent in this edition of ‘Police powers and procedures’.

MOJ also publishes statistics every 2 years on the representation of females and males as victims, suspects, offenders and employees in the criminal justice system. Its latest statistics can be found in Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2021, and includes arrest figures for the financial year ending March 2022.

The Youth Justice Board’s series on Youth justice statistics looks at the flow of young people through the youth justice system. The latest edition was released in January 2024 and includes arrests data for the financial year ending March 2023.

Data on individuals given an out of court disposal or proceeded against at court is published in MOJ’s Criminal justice statistics quarterly.

Crime statistics, including police recorded crime figures, are published by ONS on a quarterly basis.

A.1 Stop and search rates by Police Force Area and ethnicity

The following analysis compares disparity rates against stop and search rates, at Police Force Area (PFA) level.

When making comparisons between forces on disparity rates, the following should be considered:

• both the relatively low number of stop and searches and the relatively small size of the resident population of ethnic minorities in some force areas can produce large differences in rates per 1,000 population which are the result of a very small difference in the absolute numbers
• police resourcing and priorities – the level of stop and search in a Police Force Area will be influenced by operational priorities and decisions
• transient populations – the Race Disparity Unit highlighted the impact of population changes on stop and search rates, the stop and search rates are based on resident population estimates at a specific time and do not take into account individuals temporarily visiting an area, for example, tourists and students
• variations within Police Force Areas – Annex A.2 shows, some force areas with have many smaller areas (LSOAs) that have little to no stop and search activity, with a small proportion of areas that make up the majority of stop and search

Disparity rates are presented to 1 decimal place to show differences between ethnic groups which can be small. The following analysis is based on self-defined ethnicity only as the data are taken from the disparity time series tables which use longer-term trends for which only self-defined ethnicity is available.

Black ethnic group

Figure A.1: Overall stop and search rates and relative rates for black individuals, by Police Force Area, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search – ethnic disparity time series dashboard, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. City of London and British Transport Police are not shown, but they have been included in the England and Wales total.

In England and Wales there were 24 stop and searches of individuals from a black background per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023. This is the highest overall rate compared with all other ethnic groups and 4.1 times higher compared with the white group, who were stopped and searched at an overall rate of 6 per 1,000 population. Merseyside had the highest overall rates at 45 stop and searches per 1,000 population, followed by Cumbria with an overall rate of 40 stop and searches per 1,000 population. Despite Cumbria having one of the highest overall rates of stop and search it is based on a very small number of searches (48 searches) compared to Merseyside (987). The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) had by far the highest volume of stop and searches of black people (38,961) and an overall rate of 33 stop and searches per 1,000 population. The lowest overall rate of stop and search of individuals from a black background was by Derbyshire and Durham, each with an overall rate of 6 stop and searches per 1,000 population.

Although Merseyside had the highest overall stop and search rate for individuals from a black background, they had the second lowest relative rate of stop and search compared with individuals from a white background (1.4). Only Durham had a lower relative rate of black people stopped and searched compared with white people (1.2).

Dorset had by far the highest relative rate, with individuals from a black background being stopped and searched 14 times more than white individuals. However, this is based on a relatively low number of stop and searches of black individuals (138) and a low proportion of the resident population which identified as black in the 2021 Census (0.7% of residents).

Asian ethnic group

Figure A.2: Overall stop and search rates and relative rates for Asian individuals, by Police Force Area, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search – ethnic disparity time series dashboard, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. City of London and British Transport Police are not shown, but they have been included in the England and Wales total.

In England and Wales there were 8 stop and searches of individuals from an Asian background per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023. Cumbria had the highest overall rate of stop and search of individuals from an Asian background at 23 stop and searches per 1,000 population, followed by Merseyside (15 per 1,000 population). The lowest overall rate of stop and search of individuals from an Asian background was by Wiltshire (1.4 per 1,000 population).

Although Cumbria and Merseyside had the highest overall rates of individuals from an Asian background stopped and searched, they had very different relative rates. Whereas Cumbria had a relative rate of 3.1 for Asian individuals stopped and searched (the second highest, only exceeded by a relative rate of 3.2 in West Mercia), Merseyside’s relative rate was 0.5 (the second lowest, only exceeded by 0.3 in Cheshire). Merseyside and Cheshire were 2 of 20 police forces in 2022 to 2023 where individuals from an Asian background were searched at a lower rate than individuals from a white background. In England and Wales individuals from an Asian background were stopped at a relative rate 1.4 times higher than white individuals.

Mixed ethnic group

Figure A.3: Overall stop and search rates and relative rates for individuals from a mixed ethnic background, by Police Force Area, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search – ethnic disparity time series dashboard, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. City of London and British Transport Police are not shown, but they have been included in the England and Wales total.

There were 10 stop and searches of individuals from a mixed ethnic background per 1,000 population in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023. Merseyside displayed the highest overall rate of stop and search at 29 stop and searches per 1,000 population, followed by West Midlands with an overall rate of 19 stop and searches per 1,000 population. Both police forces also had some of the highest number of stop and searches of individuals from a mixed ethnic background (888 and 2,321 searches). Devon and Cornwall had the lowest overall rate of stop and search of individuals from a mixed ethnic background, at an overall rate of 3.1 stop and searches per 1,000 population, followed by Northumbria (3.2 stop and searches per 1,000 population).

In England and Wales individuals from a mixed ethnic background were stopped at a relative rate of 1.7 times higher than white individuals. This relative rate varied between forces. Derbyshire and West Midlands had the highest relative rate of 3.5, whilst North Wales had the lowest relative rate (0.8) and was 1 of 5 police forces where individuals from a mixed ethnic background were searched at a lower rate per 1,000 population than white individuals.

Other ethnic groups

Figure A.4: Overall stop and search rates and relative rates for individuals from other ethnic groups, by Police Force Area, England and Wales, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search – ethnic disparity time series dashboard, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023, Home Office

Notes:

1. City of London and British Transport Police are not shown, but they have been included in the England and Wales total.

In England and Wales there were 8 stop and searches of individuals from other ethnic groups per 1,000 population in the year ending March 2023. This varied between police forces. Merseyside had the highest overall rate of stop and search at 51 stop and searches per 1,000 population, whereas West Midlands had the lowest overall rate of stop and searches at 0.3 per 1,000 population.

In England and Wales individuals from other ethnic groups were stopped at a relative rate of 1.3 times higher than white individuals. Suffolk had the highest relative rate, with individuals from other ethnic groups being stopped at a relative rate 3.7 times higher than white individuals. The force with the lowest relative rate was West Midlands, individuals from other ethnic groups were stopped at a relative rate less than 1 (0.1).

A.2 Stop and search hotspot areas

This section contains information on stop and search hotspots conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London, as well as Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police, Lincolnshire Police, Dorset Police and North Wales Police. These areas have been selected as they provided good quality x and y co-ordinate data and allow comparisons to be made between areas with large urban centres with more rural areas.

The scales used in the map images in this section are different for each Police Force Area (PFA), as they are designed to highlight areas with high levels of stop and search within each PFA, rather than for comparison between PFAs.

Metropolitan Police Service

Analysis of stop and search conducted by the MPS in the year ending March 2023 at Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) level shows that there are certain small areas of London, such as parts of Westminster, Croydon and Bromley with high levels of stop and search activity, and large areas (predominantly, but not limited to, the outskirts of the Police Force Area) with comparatively low levels (figure A.5).

Approximately 25% of stop and search within London takes place in just 2.0% of LSOAs within London, and 50% of stop and searches taken place in just 9.0% of LSOAs. Many of the areas highlighted yellow or light green in figure A.5 with very high levels of stop and search are those where there is a significantly greater visiting population than the resident population of the area. For example, several areas of Westminster have very high levels of stop and search, reflecting the fact that people may gather in that area for tourism, or protests.

Figure A.5: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within London, year ending March 2022

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Includes searches carried out within the City of London by Metropolitan Police officers. Does not include searches undertaken outside London.
2. Approximately 90% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by the Metropolitan Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

Greater Manchester Police

Similarly to MPS, the majority of the outskirts of the Greater Manchester Police Force Area have very low to no stop and search activity taking place, with the hotspots being in distinct parts of the urban centres. Approximately 25% of stop and search within Greater Manchester takes place in just 1.2% of LSOAs within Greater Manchester, and 50% take place within 8.0%. In Greater Manchester, 2 of the main hotspot areas are Manchester 054C and Manchester 055B, which have high levels of transient population moving through them as they contain Arndale shopping centre and Manchester Victoria train station.

Figure A.6: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within Greater Manchester Police Force Area, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include searches undertaken outside Greater Manchester Police PFA.
2. Approximately 95% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by Greater Manchester Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police Force Area was no different to the MPS and GMP, with very few or no stop and search activity taking place in the outskirts. In West Midlands, the main hotspot area is in central Birmingham, close to the Bullring shopping centre and Birmingham New Street station. Approximately 25% of stop and search within West Midlands takes place in just 0.9% of LSOAs within West Midlands, and 50% take place within 6.3%.

Figure A.7: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within West Midlands Police Force Area, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include searches undertaken outside West Midlands PFA.
2. Approximately 100% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by West Midlands Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

Lincolnshire Police

Although Lincolnshire does not contain any urban centres as large as London or Greater Manchester, there are similarities in the way that stop and search activity is distributed throughout Lincolnshire PFA. Approximately 25% of searches take place in just 1.8% of LSOAs across the PFA, and 50% take place in 6.7% of LSOAs.

Figure A.8: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within Lincolnshire Force Area, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include searches undertaken outside Lincolnshire PFA.
2. Approximately 98% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by Lincolnshire Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

Dorset Police

Although Dorset is, again, a significantly different area to the 4 presented already in this section, the pattern of stop and search distribution is similar. 25% of stop and searches take place in just 1.5% of LSOAs, and 50% of stop and searches take place in just 6.7% of LSOAs. In Dorset PFA, large parts of the west and northern half of the area have no stop and search activity at all.

Figure A.9: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within Dorset Police Force Area, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include searches undertaken outside Dorset PFA.
2. Approximately 95% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by Dorset Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

North Wales Police

The pattern of stop and search within North Wales is similar to rural areas of England, with large areas of no stop and search activity. 25% of stop and searches take place in just 2.9% of LSOAs, and 50% of stop and searches take place in just 10.1% of LSOAs. The main hotspot area is Denbighshire 004E, which contains the centre of the town of Rhyl, and accounts for 6.0% of stop and searches within all of North Wales.

Figure A.10: Map of stop and search activity at LSOA level within North Wales Police Force Area, year ending March 2023

Source: Stop and search data collection, Home Office

Notes:

1. Does not include searches undertaken outside North Wales PFA.
2. Approximately 95% of stop and search records submitted to the Home Office by North Wales Police in the year ending March 2023 had a valid LSOA.

1. The associated legislation includes stop and search powers under section 47 of the Firearms Act 1968, section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 as well as other legislation. ↩

2. This is the relative rate of stop and search for an ethnic group compared to the white ethnic group. A fuller explanation can be found in section 2.6.1. ↩

3. This was in part thought to reflect willingness to make more use of such powers as part of the operational response to a rise in knife crime, and encouragement to the police from the then Home Secretary to use stop and search powers. ↩

4. Asian or Asian British group now includes people that identify as Chinese. Previously people who identify as Chinese were grouped as ‘Chinese or other’. Details on groupings are available at List of ethnic groups. ↩

5. Population data from the 2021 Census, based on whole population. ↩

6. For more information on the Metropolitan Police’s stop and search rates at borough level, see the stop and search dashboard. ↩

7. Includes searches under section 1 PACE, section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and section 47A of the Terrorism Act 2000 (though this power was not used in the year ending March 2023). ↩

8. Based on the resident population of the Police Force Area. Calculated using the mid-2022 population estimates for England and Wales, published by ONS. ↩

9. Police powers of arrest: your rights ↩

10. A Notifiable Offence is any offence where the police must inform the Home Office by completing a crime report form for statistical purposes. Notifiable offences cover all crimes that must or could be heard at a Crown Court and, except for common assaults, does not include summary only offences that are dealt with exclusively by magistrates’ courts. There are strict rules regarding the recording of crime which is outlined in the Home Office counting rules for recorded crime. ↩

11. ONS Crime Statistics ↩

12. Devon and Cornwall were not able to provide data in the year ending March 2023. Their data was estimated at a 2% increase in line with the overall trend for England and Wales. ↩

13. Calculated using 2021 Census population for England and Wales. ↩

14. City of London Police Force Area is not included in this analysis, as the small resident population and large transient population within means that rates can be misleading. ↩