Staffordshire Police
About this force
| Area | 2,713 square miles |
|---|---|
| Recording stop and account? | No |
About the PCC in this area
| Police & Crime Commissioner | Matthew Ellis (Conservative) |
|---|---|
| Email address | pcc@staffordshire.pcc.pnn.gov.uk |
| PCC website | Visit website |
How many searches do police do?
April 2017 – March 2018
The police conducted 3,812 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Staffordshire Police.
This was a reduction of 13% from the previous year.
There were 6 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 4,375 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Staffordshire Police.
This was an increase of 4% from the previous year.
There were 2 stop and searches under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, a power which doesn’t require individual reasonable suspicion.
April 2015 – March 2016
The police conducted 4,213 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Staffordshire Police.
This was a reduction of 32% from the previous year.
There were 4 stop and searches under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, a power which doesn’t require individual reasonable suspicion.
Stop and account
Staffordshire Police do not record stop and accounts.
What are searches targeted at?
| Target | Proportion of searches |
|---|---|
| Drugs | 59% |
| Stolen property | 18% |
| Offensive weapons | 13% |
| Going equipped | 6% |
| Firearms | 3% |
| Other | 1% |
| Criminal damage | <1% |
How effective are police stop and searches?
Three-fifths of searches in Staffordshire are for drugs rather than serious or violent crime. There has been little variation in the last few years – standing at 59% in 2017/18, only two percentage points down from 2015/16 and 2016/17, when 61% of all searches were for drugs.
April 2017 – March 2018
17% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
0% of stop and searches conducted under Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act lead to an arrest.
April 2016 – March 2017
16% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
April 2015 – March 2016
14% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
Who is getting searched?
Racial disproportionality has risen substantially in Staffordshire in recent years – black people suffered the highest disparity in stop and search rates compared with white people of any police constabulary in the country. In 2017/18, they were searched at almost 12 times the rate of whites, up from eight in the previous financial year. This is despite a fall in overall stop and searches in the region.
People of Asian ethnicity were searched at five times the rate of whites, and those from mixed backgrounds at almost four times the rate of whites. Only people from Chinese or other ethnic backgrounds have been searched at consistently lower rates than whites.
PACE disproportionality ratios
| Ethnic groups | Ratio |
|---|---|
| White : Black | 1 : 11.7 |
| White : Asian | 1 : 4.9 |
| White : Mixed | 1 : 3.7 |
| White : Other | 1 : 0.7 |