Dorset Police has responded to a report from the
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that suggests stop and
search powers are used disproportionately on certain groups of
people in the county.
The publication, entitled ‘Stop and Think’, was released today,
Monday, 15 March 2010.
Deputy Chief Constable Chris Lee said: "We are very concerned by
this report, which we have seen for the first time today. Recent
results show Dorset as consistently one of the top two forces for
doing a good or excellent job. In the HMIC’s recent
report, the Force was graded as good/excellent in relation to the
satisfaction of people from a black or minority ethnic
background."
Dorset Police, like all forces throughout England and Wales, makes
use of legal powers to reduce and detect crime, but equally adheres
to strict standards of fairness and respect while carrying out its
duties.
The EHRC report relies
on year-old statistics from 2007-2008, as well as data from the
2001 census – which is almost ten years old.
Communities have changed significantly since then and it is
believed that the current street population does not reflect the
data included in the 2001 census.
The statistics also fail to include visitor numbers. Dorset
attracts 14 million visitor days a year – so it is likely that
street populations will differ greatly from the census data.
DCC Lee
continued: "Our targeting and monitoring has improved significantly
since 2008 and focussed use of the power has resulted in a 16%
reduction in the overall number of stop searches this year.
"We have also volunteered to be involved in a national development
pilot, called Next Steps, that aims to increase understanding of
the use of this power by police forces in more rural environments.
This scheme is due to start on Thursday, 1 April."
Between April and December 2009, officers used stop and search
powers on 4,735 people. This included 4,172 white people and 228
black people.
This year just over half of all stop and searches on black
people occurred in just 3 of Dorset’s 166 beat areas.
This relates to 125 searches conducted in three adjoining beats
in the Boscombe area. This is a specific local issue and it is
believed that where searches take place in these beat areas that
there is a higher proportion of minority groups among the street
population.
Officers operate according to intelligence and apply a test of
reasonable suspicion.
A recent survey found that over 80% of Boscombe residents
perceive that their area has a drugs problem – this compares with
an average of 20% in other areas throughout the county.
Half of the searches in these three areas were drug-related and 42%
of people searched gave an address outside of the Force area.
Fourteen per cent of searches in this area have resulted in an
arrest – this is higher than the 10% that is nationally regarded as
an acceptable outcome ratio.
It should also be noted that Dorset Police has only received two
complaints regarding stop and search activity during 2009/10.
DCC Lee
concluded: "This public concern, along with our intelligence and
monitoring, shows that our use of stop and search powers reflect
nothing other than the fact that we strive to address the
priorities of our local communities.
"Dorset Police takes suggestions of discrimination extremely
seriously and we again invite the Commission to visit the Force for
a more informed discussion on these issues."