Cheshire Constabulary
About this force
| Area | 200 square miles |
|---|---|
| Recording stop and account? | No |
| Force website | Visit website |
About the PCC in this area
| Police & Crime Commissioner | David Keane (Labour) |
|---|---|
| PCC website | Visit website |
How many searches do police do?
April 2018 – March 2019
The police conducted 2,261 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Cheshire Constabulary.
This was an increase of 2% from the previous year.
There were 63 stop and searches under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, a power which doesn’t require individual reasonable suspicion.
This was an increase of 2% from the previous year.
April 2017 – March 2018
The police conducted 2,211 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Cheshire Constabulary.
This was a reduction of 17% from the previous year.
There were 0 stop and searches under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, a power which doesn’t require individual reasonable suspicion.
April 2016 – March 2017
The police conducted 2,676 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Cheshire Constabulary.
This was a reduction of 55% from the previous year.
There were 0 stop and searches under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, a power which doesn’t require individual reasonable suspicion.
Stop and account
Cheshire Constabulary do not record stop and accounts.
What are searches targeted at?
| Target | Proportion of searches |
|---|---|
| Drugs | 72% |
| Offensive weapons | 12% |
| Going equipped | 8% |
| Stolen property | 6% |
| Other | 1% |
| Criminal damage | 1% |
| Firearms | 1% |
How effective are police stop and searches?
A staggering 72% of all searches across Cheshire in 2018/19 were for drugs rather than directed serious or violent crimes, similar to the previous three years. This means that Cheshire police has one of the highest proportion of searches for drugs – most of which is likely to detect low-level possession of cannabis rather than drug dealers or the suppliers of harder drugs.
April 2018 – March 2019
18% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
1% of stop and searches conducted under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act lead to an arrest.
April 2017 – March 2018
18% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
April 2016 – March 2017
8% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
Who is getting searched?
In 2018/19, black people were searched at nearly eight and a half times the rate of whites. People from mixed backgrounds were searched at just over twice the rate of whites, Asians were slightly overrepresented and Chinese and people from other ethnicities were underrepresented.
There were 63 recorded searches under section 60, a power that does not require officers to have any suspicion that a person is involved in criminality before detaining them for a search, resulting in two arrests, none of which were for the possession of offensive weapons.
PACE disproportionality ratios
| Ethnic groups | Ratio |
|---|---|
| White : Black | 1 : 8.4 |
| White : Asian | 1 : 1.2 |
| White : Mixed | 1 : 2.2 |
| White : Other | 1 : 0.6 |