The data used in the MPS Stop and Search – More Thorough Searches Intimate Parts Exposed (MTIPS) dashboard is available here More Thorough Searches Intimate Parts Exposed (MTIPS) Dashboard | Metropolitan Police, along with the related data definitions. Please note that, Datasets are updated monthly at the beginning of the month. Please note, this data runs until the end of the month prior.
Definitions / Counting Rules
Stop & Search - When an officer stops a member of the public and searches them. The police can only detain members of the public in order to carry out a search when certain conditions have been met. Search powers fall under different areas of legislation which include searching for: Stolen property; Prohibited articles namely offensive weapons or anything used for burglary, theft, deception or criminal damage; Drugs; Guns.
More Thorough Searches - As defined by the College of Policing, this is a search involving the removal of more than JOG (jacket, outer coat, gloves) that exposes intimate parts of the body. (Legislation: PACE - Code A, paragraph 3.7)
Stop & Search Positive Outcome - In the context of a Stop & Search, a 'positive outcome' is when the stop results in either a Caution, Community Resolution, Penalty Notice, Postal Charge\Summons, or Arrest.
Please note that ‘Sex’ is recorded as ‘Male’, ‘Female’, ‘Unknown’ and ‘Vehicle Only’ (for vehicle-only searches). There is always a possibility that some MTIPS records will have a gender of ‘Unknown’ and ‘Vehicle Only’, usually as a result of a data recording error, however there are very few. For example, between 01/05/2020 – 19/05/2022, of the 9,168 records where an MTIP was recorded, only 8 records came back with the gender field stating ‘Unknown’ or ‘Vehicle Only’.
Caveats
The MPS fully recognises the distress to the individual which any type of search where intimate parts are exposed can cause, and does not seek to downplay this. However, dip sampling of records has shown that historically some of the records included in this dashboard were wrongly recorded as MTIPs, when they were in fact strip searches conducted in custody after arrest. There will therefore be some double counting, as these will also have been recorded on our custody system and will be therefore be counted in both this dashboard and the separate strip search dashboard.
Due to an internal IT deployment, from 27th February these datasets may be temporarily disrupted. Work is ongoing to rebuild these datasets.