Policing

Stop and search: How successful is the police tactic?

There's been a big fall in the number of people being stopped and searched by police in England and Wales since 2010. This was after reviews of the policy called for a more "fair and proportionate use of the power".

But there hasn't been a comparable fall in the number of people being arrested after being stopped and searched. This suggests that the police are now more likely to stop and search people who were then found to be committing a crime than they were in 2010.

In fact, the latest figures we have show the year to March 2017 features the highest rate of police stops leading to an arrest since the data was first collected (17%). In 2010, 9% of police stops resulted in an arrest.

When it comes to arrests specifically for the possession of firearms and other offensive weapons, the rate is even higher. Last year about 20% of police stops where possession of a weapon was suspected resulted in an arrest. In 2010, the rate was half that.