Stop and search is one of the powers available to police officers and it is present in different acts, the most known is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Under PACE section 1, “a police constable can stop and search a person if he has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is in possession of stolen or prohibited articles” (Bowling and Phillips, 2007); the authors continue by adding that suspicion must be based on facts, information, intelligence, and it must be objective. Before PACE 1984, different powers of stop and search were incorporated within local and national legislation (Brown, 1997 cited by Miller, 2010), one was the Vagrancy Act 1824 (The Police Foundation, 2012), known as the “sus” law which allowed police officers to stop and search individuals who were about to commit a felony (Whitfield, 2009). The greatest use was in London and in other specific cities and towns. Where stop and search did not exist, police used “ways and means act” to obtain consent from those they wished to stop and search (Whitfield, 2009). This essay will discuss the power of stop and search, as well as the disproportionality caused by it and it will touch upon recording practice and requirements.
Stop and search has been one of the most controversial aspects of British policing and it became even more debated at
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This tool is also supported by the home secretary Amber Rudd who believes that the reforms are working (Dodd, 2017). On the other hand, public support diminishes when stop and search powers are overused (HMIC, 2013). In conclusion, it is important to find a solution by creating legislation which can satisfy both the police and the