Yvette Cooper is writing to Theresa May today to call for much needed reform of the stop-and-search powers used by the police
 
Yvette Cooper offers cross-party co-operation to make sure this issue is not kicked into the long grass and this much needed reform is enacted Briefing – Labour stop-and-search intervention
 
Yvette Cooper calls the disproportionate impact on BAME communities “shameful” and calls for urgent reform.
  She writes:
This issue is too important to be kicked into the long grass. It goes to the heart of people’s trust in the police and the misuse of stop-and-search has the potential to undermine effective community policing.   I hope that you will not give in to the Prime Minister’s opposition to change. Everyone agrees that the police need to have powers to stop and search individuals suspected of crime or to prevent a serious threat. Intelligence-led targeting of suspected criminals helps to cut knife crime and youth killings. However, while targeted action helps cut crime, the reality is too many searches are not targeted at all.   According to the HMIC too many searches don’t even have good grounds. We know that only a small proportion of searches lead to arrest and hundreds of thousands of searches each year currently lead to nothing but resentment.   That resentment is creating barriers between communities and the police, particularly in the ethnic minority communities that are most affected – that’s bad for innocent people regularly and unfairly stopped, bad for the police because it’s an expensive waste of time, and bad for community safety because it undermines the relationships we all rely on. Among the proposals I hope we can consider in cross-party talks is action to address the problems for ethnic minority communities – and in particular the fact that young black men are still so frequently stopped and searched by the police without good grounds to do so. For example we would propose replacing the current guidance on avoiding race discrimination with legislation instead, sending a stronger message to everyone that stopping someone on the basis of the colour of their skin is illegal, discriminatory and shameful.
 
The Shadow Home Secretary raises a number of areas where reform could be take forward – though she is clear Labour is open to any reforms to improve the system and these can be seen as just some of the options.
  She writes:
We propose replacing the current guidance on avoiding race discrimination with legislation instead, sending a stronger message to everyone that stopping someone on the basis of the colour of their skin is illegal, discriminatory and shameful.
I am extremely concerned that in some areas officers were set targets for stop and searches. That practice should be banned as it is clearly an abuse of the legislation and means that individuals were stopped and searched simply to meet targets rather than because they were suspected of any crime.
I hope we can also agree that Section 60 should be more tightly restricted, and should require higher levels of authorisation. You will be aware that when the IPCC looked at this issue in the West Midlands, they concluded ‘Section 60’ power was being used inappropriately for dealing with routine crime problems and normal police powers to search persons or their vehicles, based on a reasonable suspicion, were available.
I hope we can also agree on changes to Section 1 which is still being misused. The overwhelming majority of section 1 searches lead to no further action, suggesting that the searches are not effectively targeted. The result is that large numbers of young people feel they have been stopped, searched and questioned by the police for no good reason at all – undermining trust in policing by consent.   Work by the Metropolitan Police has already shown that it is possible to reduce the number of stop and searches and improve the targeting of the powers. But much more needs to be done. Across the country there were still over one million stop and searches last year and only 100,000 justified an arrest. In London alone there were 260,000 stop and searches last year which did not find any justification for arrest. There is a wide variation in both the level of use of stop and search and the percentage of cases which results in arrests.
It is unacceptable that 30 out of 43 forces were found by the HMIC not to have sufficient understanding of how to use powers of stop and search. Given the impact of misuse of this power, it is vital that action is taken against forces which are misusing it – including new rules, new training, and intervention in forces involving the College of Policing and the HMIC. Ends
 
 
FULL TEXT OF LETTER TO THERESA MAY
 
Dear Theresa,
 
I am writing to offer cross-party discussions so that we can go ahead with reforms to stop and search without delay.
 
I am concerned about the reports in the media suggesting that change is being ‘blocked’ by disagreements between the Home Office and Downing Street.
 
It is now nearly four years since the EHRC said that “some forces are using their powers disproportionately suggesting they are stopping and searching individuals in a way that is discriminatory, inefficient, and a waste of public money… The evidence points to racial discrimination being a significant reason.” It is over 7 months since you announced a public consultation on stop and search powers which included no specific proposals for reform.
 
You told the House on 2 July last year that “we will then be able to come back to the House in the autumn on the basis of both the consultation and the HMIC report, and make firmer proposals to the House on stop and search going forward.” Since then we have heard nothing from you.
 
This issue is too important to be kicked into the long grass. It goes to the heart of people’s trust in the police and the misuse of stop search has the potential to undermine effective community policing. I hope that you will not give in to the Prime Minister’s opposition to change.
 
Everyone agrees that the police need to have powers to stop and search individuals suspected of crime or to prevent a serious threat. Intelligence-led targeting of suspected criminals helps to cut knife crime and youth killings.
 
However, while targeted action helps cut crime, the reality is too many searches are not targeted at all. According to the HMIC too many searches don’t even have good grounds. We know that only a small proportion of searches lead to arrest and hundreds of thousands of searches each year currently lead to nothing but resentment. That resentment is creating barriers between communities and the police, particularly in the ethnic minority communities that are most affected – that’s bad for innocent people regularly and unfairly stopped, bad for the police because it’s an expensive waste of time, and bad for community safety because it undermines the relationships we all rely on.
 
Particularly concerning evidence shows that:
 
•             27 PER CENT of the 8,783 stop and search records reviewed by HMIC between October 2012 and April 2013 did not even include sufficient grounds to justify the lawful use of the power.
 
•             The number of arrests following a stop and search has actually gone down by around 2 percentage points over the last five years to nine per cent - suggesting that the powers are being used in an even less targeted way than before.
 
•             Young people in ethnic minority communities are seven times more likely to be stopped.
 
•             People who are unhappy with stop and search encounters, in particular young people and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, have the least confidence both in the police and the police complaints system. Their experience is therefore likely to feed back into negative perceptions of policing.
 
Among the proposals I hope we can consider in cross-party talks is action to address the problems for ethnic minority communities – and in particular the fact that young black men are still so frequently stopped and searched by the police without good grounds to do so.
 
For example we propose replacing the current guidance on avoiding race discrimination with legislation instead, sending a stronger message to everyone that stopping someone on the basis of the colour of their skin is illegal, discriminatory and shameful.
 
I am extremely concerned that in some areas officers were set targets for stop and searches. That practice should be banned as it is clearly an abuse of the legislation and means that individuals were stopped and searched simply to meet targets rather than because they were suspected of any crime.
 
I hope we can also agree that Section 60 should be more tightly restricted, and should require higher levels of authorisation. You will be aware that when the IPCC looked at this issue in the West Midlands, they concluded the “Section 60 power was being used inappropriately for dealing with routine crime problems and normal police powers to search persons or their vehicles, based on a reasonable suspicion, were available.”
 
And I hope we can also agree on changes to Section 1 which is still being misused. The overwhelming majority of Section 1 searches lead to no further action, suggesting that the searches are not effectively targeted. The result is that large numbers of young people feel they have been stopped, searched and questioned by the police for no good reason at all – undermining trust in policing by consent.
 
Work by the Metropolitan Police has already shown that it is possible to reduce the number of stop and searches and improve the targeting of the powers. But much more needs to be done. Across the country there were still over one million stop and searches last year and only 100,000 justified an arrest.
 
In London alone there were 260,000 stop and searches last year which did not find any justification for arrest. There is a wide variation in both the level of use of stop and search and the percentage of cases which results in arrests.
 
And it is unacceptable that 30 out of 43 forces were found by the HMIC not to have sufficient understanding of how to use powers of stop and search. Given the impact of misuse of this power, it is vital that action is taken against forces which are misusing it – including new rules, new training, and intervention in forces involving the College of Policing and the HMIC.
I would also welcome seeing any further proposals your officials and the police have come up with to reform stop and search and restore confidence in ethnic minority communities.
 
Everyone agrees that the police need the powers to be able to apprehend people they believe are involved in a crime, and to take preventative action where there is a significant threat.
The HMIC found that the public remain supportive of the police power to stop and search, but that this diminishes when it is perceived that the power is being ‘overused’. We cannot delay making changes to ensure stop-and-search powers are not used in the wrong way and that the public continues to have confidence in the important operational decisions the police need to be able to take.
 
Last year, I welcomed your commitment to reforming stop and search. I hope that you will now agree to cross-party talks so that concrete policy proposals can be put forward.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Shadow Home Secretary