The data used in the MPS Stop and Search Dashboard is available here Stop and Search Dashboard | Metropolitan Police, along with the related data definitions. Please note that, this dataset is updated monthly at the beginning of the month. Data runs until the end of the month prior.
Definitions / Counting Rules
- Stop and Search (S&S) - 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
- Historically searches of unattended vehicles and vessels have made up a very low proportion of search activity.
- PACE and Other Stops and Searches - Stops and Searches under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act), S23 Drugs Act, S47 Firearms Act plus a very small number not included in the other categories (e.g. s27(1) Aviation Security Act 1982 or S7 Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol) Act 1985)
- Section 60 Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994 (s.60) - Where an authorising officer reasonably believes that serious violence may take place or that persons are carrying dangerous instruments or offensive weapons without good reason they may authorise powers for officers in uniform to stop and search any person or vehicles within a defined area and time period.
- Search Groupings - Searches within this report are sometimes grouped as either Weapons, ASB or Key Crime searches. The Weapons group is composed of stops recorded under codes C - Firearms (s47 Firearms Act), D - Offensive Weapons (s1 PACE), K - Anticipated Violence (s60 CJPO). The ASB group is composed of codes B - Drugs (s23 Misuse of Drugs Act), L- Criminal Damage (s1 Pace), Y- Psychoactive Substances, Z - Fireworks (s1 Pace). The Key Crime Group is composed of codes A - Stolen Property (s1 PACE), F- Going Equipped (s1 PACE).
- Criminality Detected (formerly Positive Outcomes) - Criminality Detected refers to a Stop where the outcome is any outcome other than 'No Further Action (NFA)'. The 'Criminality Detected' rate is determined by dividing the number of Criminality Detected searches by the total number of searches.
- Ethnic Appearance - The ethnicity of the person stopped as perceived by the officer. For further information on the mapping of 4+1 groupings to 18+1 census data please see HO report Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2010 at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pubsstatistical.html
- Self Defined Ethnicity (SDE) - The ethnic group as defined by the person stopped (National Census categories).
- This report uses 2011 Census data. This is held in 18+1 format and the recorded ethnic appearance of the Stop/Search (4+1) must be mapped to the appropriate 18+1 Census categories. The categories are mapped as follows:
White = White British, White Irish, White Gypsy or Irish Traveller, and any other White Background.
Black = Black or Black British, Caribbean, African, Mixed White and Black Caribbean, Mixed White and Black African, and any other Black Background
Asian = Asian or Asian British Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Mixed White and Asian and any other Asian background.
Other = Arab, and any other Ethnic Group
Caveats
- The Borough shown is location of search and not necessarily the borough of the officer conducting the search.
- The ethnicity of persons stopped and searched within the central London area are unlikely to reflect the resident population due to large numbers of both British and foreign tourists in this region.
- 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.
NB Data uploaded to this area after February 2024 is sourced from the CONNECT system. Some measures\details previously provided may not be available in total or in part. Please take care when comparing data-sets posted after February 2024 with those posted prior.