Gwent Police
About this force
| Area | 600 square miles |
|---|---|
| Recording stop and account? | No |
| Force website | Visit website |
About the PCC in this area
| Police & Crime Commissioner | Jeff Cuthbert (Labour) |
|---|---|
| Email address | commissioner@gwent.pnn.police.uk |
| PCC website | Visit website |
How many searches do police do?
April 2019 – March 2020
The police conducted 3,741 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Gwent Police.
This was an increase of 47% 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 2018 – March 2019
The police conducted 2,539 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Gwent Police.
This was an increase of 164% 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 2017 – March 2018
The police conducted 960 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Gwent Police.
This was a reduction of 43% 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 1,698 stop and searches under PACE Section 1 across the area covered by Gwent Police.
This was an increase of 44% 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
Gwent Police do not record stop and accounts.
The Gwent Police no longer record stop and account. The last available data showed that black people were stopped at a rate of 5.2 that of white people in Gwent (2008-09).
What are searches targeted at?
| Target | Proportion of searches |
|---|---|
| Drugs | 70% |
| Offensive weapons | 10% |
| Stolen property | 6% |
| Going equipped | 6% |
| Other | 5% |
| Firearms | 1% |
| Criminal damage | 1% |
How effective are police stop and searches?
The vast majority (70%) of all searches conducted by Gwent's police officers in 2019/20 were for drugs rather than serious or violent crime. Research suggests that these searches tend to target low-level drugs – mainly small possession of cannabis – rather than suppliers or harder drugs.
April 2019 – March 2020
8% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
April 2018 – March 2019
8% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
April 2017 – March 2018
8% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
April 2016 – March 2017
14% of stop and searches conducted under PACE Section 1 lead to an arrest.
Who is getting searched?
Caution is required when interpreting the racial disproportionality figures quoted at the bottom of this page. This is due to the small volume of recorded searches in Gwent making it difficult to interpret the figures without more information. Figures produced by the force show that in 2019/20:
- Black people in Gwent were searched at ten times the rate of White people
- People from Mixed backgrounds were searched at just over six times the rate of White people
- Asians were searched at just over five times the rate of Whites
- Chinese or other ethnicities were searched at a slightly higher rate than Whites
There were no recorded section 60 searches, similar to previous years. Section 60 is a power that does not require officers to have suspicion to believe that a person is carrying weapons in order to search them for those items.
PACE disproportionality ratios
| Ethnic groups | Ratio |
|---|---|
| White : Black | 1 : 10.3 |
| White : Asian | 1 : 5.2 |
| White : Mixed | 1: 6.1 |
| White : Other | 1 : 1.3 |