Stop and Search policy (PS 156)
Aims and Objectives of the Policy
Nottinghamshire Police believes that the powers of stop and search should be used with the support and understanding of all communities and that all members of the public should be treated with dignity and respect at all times, particularly when being searched.
The force aims to understand the proportionality of the searches conducted, increase the effectiveness of the use of stop and search by targeting it more effectively through intelligence-based tasking and be both publicly accountable for the way in which the powers are used and understand how effective stop and search is as a tactic to make communities safer.
Nottinghamshire Police recognises that stop and search has a significant impact upon the trust, confidence and satisfaction of the people of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – particularly those from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. As such, the force will work to maximise the confidence of these communities in the service provided.
Nottinghamshire Police is committed to the legitimate use of stop and search and subscribes to the principles set out in the Home Office Best Use of Stop and Search Guidance.
Nottinghamshire Police will monitor and seek to address any identified disproportionality of in the use of stop and search powers.
Nottinghamshire Police welcomes scrutiny and will act on the findings of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Independent Community Scrutiny Panel.
Nottinghamshire Police’s vision is supported by three strategic priorities:
- To engage our communities
- To create a service that works for local people
- To become an employer of choice
This stop and search policy supports the appropriate and proportionate use of these powers to target criminality and terrorism.
The quality of every stop and search intervention can influence public confidence in the use of police powers and can provide a positive contribution to reducing the fear of crime. By using technology (including BWV) to record stop and searches we will improve the quality of the encounter, capture more accurate data and enable the more effective use of resources.
This policy will therefore support these three strategic priorities.
We will only use our powers when it is necessary, proportionate and lawful to do so in the pursuit of the following legitimate aims:
- In the interests of public safety
- To prevent crime and disorder
- In the interests of national security
- To protect the rights and freedom of others
In the utilisation of our powers we will, both as individuals and collectively, adhere to our PROUD values. We will:
- Be Professional Have
- Respect for all
- Work as One team
- Work with the Utmost integrity, trust and honesty
- Strive to do it Differently
The force is also committed to meeting the principles held within the College of Policing’s Code of Ethics.
Policy Statement Stop and search
Legislation allows police officers to conduct a ‘stop’ of an individual or vehicle and allows them to ‘search’ that person or vehicle without first making an arrest. This power is extended to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who are able to conduct a stop and search under certain circumstances.
See also: Summary of main stop and search powers All stop and searches must be conducted and recorded in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 as specified in Code of Practice A. More specifically this Code of Practice details the grounds upon which a stop and search must be based, how the search should be conducted and what must be recorded.
The Code of Practice A must be read in conjunction with this policy.
Full details of the Code of Practice A covering stop and search can be accessed
via the government website.
The powers of stop and search provide effective and legitimate tools to help detect and deter crime. The National Intelligence Model (NIM) will be used to effectively task officers to be in the right place at the right time, to focus on those crimes which matter most to our communities and which present the greatest risk of harm to our communities, such as violence, offences involving weapons and burglary. As such the intelligence we act upon needs to be current, relevant and appropriate to the circumstances. Management indicators will be set and regularly reviewed to target the use of stop and search into crime types that have the most impact upon community safety.
All stops must be carried out with courtesy, consideration and respect for the person concerned. Every reasonable effort must be made to minimise the embarrassment that a person being searched may experience. The co-operation of the person to be searched must be sought in every case, even if the person initially objects to the search.
Police Officers and PCSO’s undertaking a stop search should, where necessary, seek to de-escalate any encounter where an intention to conduct a stop search is met with aggression or hostility.
The totality of the stop and search encounter should be recorded on the searching officer’s Body Worn Video with the recorded imagery retained as required.
Legally there is no obligation placed on the person being searched to provide any information to the officer conducting the search. The person stopped should be asked to define their ethnicity as this needs to be contained in the stop and search record for monitoring purposes.
Where the subject of the search declines to define their ethnicity the searching officer should record the ethnicity of the subject as they observe it to be.
Nottinghamshire Police will routinely ask the person being searched for their name and date of birth, but again there is no obligation for the person to provide this personal information.
If the information is given it will be recorded.
While any member of the public is allowed to observe officers carrying out a stop and search as long as the person being searched does not object, the dignity and privacy of the individual being searched is of paramount importance and will always be considered.
Should the person being searched object to being observed by a member of the public, the searching officer must introduce measures to maintain the dignity of the searched person.
This could include conducting the search out of the view of members of the public or in a suitable police vehicle. The officer will inform the observer that the person being searched has objected to their presence.
Every police station will have a room specifically designated to undertake these searches privately, should a closer private location not be available. Custody suites will not be used for the conducting of the searches covered within this policy due to the connotation of the person being searched being under arrest.
Equality Act and stop and search
When forces carry out any of their duties they must actively work to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and take steps to foster good community relations.
The recording and monitoring of stop and search data will allow us to identify and address any disproportionate use of the powers by particular officers or groups of officers particularly in relation to ethnicity and specific sections of the community.
All stop and search powers must be used fairly, responsibly, with respect for people being searched and without unlawful discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to discriminate against, harass or victimise any person on the grounds of the ‘protected characteristics’ of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, or pregnancy and maternity when using their powers.
The Code of Practice provides specific guidance on the removal of religious headwear and identifies considerations for the searching of transgender individuals.
The sections below briefly restate the provisions of the Code of Practice for general information only.
Religious Headwear
A police officer cannot order the removal of a head or face covering, except where there is reason to believe that the item is being worn by the individual wholly or mainly for the purpose of disguising identity, not simply because it disguises identity.
The officer’s rationale for why they formed the opinion that the garment was being worn to disguise identity should also be recorded in their Pocket Note Book or log.
Where there may be religious sensitivities about ordering the removal of head or face coverings, the officer will ensure the item is removed out of public view. Where practicable, the item should be removed in the presence of an officer of the same sex as the person and out of sight of anyone of the opposite sex. Officers should enquire sensitively as to whether the person about to be searched does or doesn’t have a faith, if they profess a faith, what this faith is should be recorded.
Anyone subject to a search is not required to supply details of their religion.
Transgender
Sensitivity must be shown when conducting searches of transgender individuals to minimise embarrassment, avoid discrimination and promote equality as required under the Equality Act 2010. Guidance on the searching of transgender and transvestite individuals is provided in the Code of Practice C - Annex L.
Recording of stop and search and requesting a stop and search record
- Electronic recording using data applications on mobile electronic devices
- Paper recording on form G157 by those officers not equipped with mobile data devices
Anyone who has personally been stopped and searched or who has had their vehicle searched by a police officer or PCSO is entitled to a record of this search within three months of the search being conducted.
The mobile data device does not generate a hard copy record that can be given at the scene of the stop and search. These devices do however allow officers to email the person searched, a copy of the record if they give the officer their email address. Alternatively, the mobile data device does issue a Unique Reference Number (URN) which will be written on a receipt and given to the person searched, although if an officer is called away to attend a higher priority incident it may not be possible to issue such a receipt. This receipt may then be used by the person stopped to obtain the full record of the stop and search.
Details of the process for requesting a stop and search record are given at Appendix A.
When conducting a stop and search, officers must record the interaction on Body Worn Video, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Officers must give the person(s) being searched the grounds and object of the search using the GOWISELY pneumonic. Guidance is contained in the College of Policing APP.
Complaints relating to stop and search
Feedback on how we perform our duties is important to us and will help to improve the service we provide. Nottinghamshire Police expects its officers to treat everyone in a professional manner, with respect and dignity.
If a member of the community is not satisfied with the way they or another person has been treated, it is important we are informed.
This may be done by:
- Calling Nottinghamshire Police on 101
- Visiting any Nottinghamshire Police Station
- Contacting the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on 0300 020
0096 or using their website - Contacting the Citizen Advice Bureau
- Visiting the Nottinghamshire Police website and using the complaints form
Monitoring of stop and search
All stop and searches are required to be recorded by law. Nottinghamshire Police will make best use of technology to ensure every use of a power to stop and search is recorded accurately and efficiently.
Nottinghamshire Police will be open and transparent in our use of stop and search powers and welcomes scrutiny by independent organisations and our communities in how these powers are used. We will seek and act upon the community feedback by producing stop and search data at a neighbourhood level. Using existing and new community engagement opportunities, this data will be shared with our communities.
External scrutiny of the way in which Nottinghamshire Police exercises its powers of Stop and Search is provided by the Independent Community Scrutiny Panel (ICSP). The ICSP is overseen and administered by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to provide independence from the force.
The ICSP meets quarterly and is responsible for selecting for itself those stop searches it wishes to review and will have available to it the accompanying Body Worn Video used by the searching officer to record the encounter.
Nottinghamshire Police recognises that the inappropriate use of these powers and any poor treatment of a person being searched damages the trust and confidence of our communities in the service we provide. Confidence can, however, be built when officers are seen to be tackling those crimes that matter to communities and when the powers of stop and search are used ethically, treating people with dignity and respect.
We will ensure that the powers of stop and search are used fairly, impartially and without discrimination.
Nottinghamshire Police will support its officers in the use of stop and search by:
- Ensuring officers have up-to-date knowledge of the relevant legislation
- Focusing on effective leadership and supervision to ensure officers are using powers lawfully and proportionately
- Providing the most effective tools possible to record every use of a stop and search power
Role and responsibilities
Ensuring that stop and search encounters are carried out in a proportionate and lawful manner is the responsibility of a number of roles in Nottinghamshire Police.
The responsibilities of the Chief Constable and the Force as a whole are given at Appendix B.
The responsibilities of senior police officers are detailed in a separate supporting procedure.
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Appendix A - Requesting a copy of a stop and search record at a police station
Every person who has been stopped and searched or their vehicle has been searched by a police officer / Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) is entitled to a record of this search within three months of the search being completed.
Two methods of recording searches are utilised by Nottinghamshire Police:
- Electronic recording using mobile data applications by officers issued with such devices
- Paper recording on form G.157 for officers not equipped with mobile data devices
The use of mobile data devices does not generate a hard copy record to be available at the scene of the search. A receipt will be given to the person searched using form G2020. This is a credit card sized information document that includes the details of the officer who conducted the stop and search and a Unique Reference Number (URN).
The person searched may then attend a police station and request a copy of the search record. As the name, date of birth or other personal identifying information is not always recorded during a stop and search, it is necessary that the G2020 receipt is presented to request a record of a stop and search.
Contact Management staff (Front Counter staff) do not have access to the records database so are unable to print a record off for the member of the public.
In order to obtain a record of the stop and search, if the person searched has provided their personal details, the following must be provided:
- the G2020 receipt given at the time of search, and
- proof of identity IF the person searched provided their personal details (Photographic proof of identity is preferred, but not essential. Other proof of identity includes utility bills, passport, driver’s licence, bank cards, library cards etc)
The identification document will not be copied or recorded.
In order to obtain a record of the search, if the person searched has NOT provided their personal details, the following must be provided:
- the G2020 receipt given at the time of search
The person requesting the record has the option of specifying how they would like to receive the information - by email, by post or by personal delivery.
Depending on the option selected, they will have to provide an email address, postal address or address for a personal service.
Those requesting a copy of the record should be made aware that email and post should not be considered secure methods of delivery. Additionally, personal delivery will require that proof of identification is provided at the time of delivery.
The searching officer will then be emailed to inform them of the request for the record and the delivery option specified.
If no receipt is readily available and the person did not provide their personal details, Nottinghamshire Police will be unable to provide a record of the stop and search unless the applicant can provide the officer’s details and date, time and location of the search.
If the person does not have the receipt but provides their personal details along with proof of identity, then a copy of the search record will be provided. This is to protect the privacy of those searched having their records accessed by others not entitled to a copy.
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Appendix B – Roles and responsibilities
The Chief Constable has overall responsibility for the appropriate use of stop and search powers. Due to the importance and sensitive nature of this area of policing, the Assistant Chief Constable – Local Policing will take a strategic lead.
The Chief Constable will ensure that:
- There is a clear written policy on the use of stop and search and it is communicated, understood and applied by all officers. This policy is readily available to the public and its availability is publicised
- Frontline officers are conducting street interventions in line with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), force policy, force intelligence and instructions given to them in tasking meetings and briefings, as well as other relevant legislation such as the Human Rights Act 1998
- Officers are able to explain to local communities the reasons for disproportional application, if any, within their force
- A summary of all stop and search records are available to members of the public and figures are put into a local context for the community
- Local communities are encouraged to participate in developing stop and search policies, consultations, scrutiny and training
- Statutory requirements are met for the submission of stop and search data to the Home Office and management information systems are in place, which can be interrogated to provide information on significant trends or disproportional application of the powers
- There is a training provision to meet the needs of all staff
- While acknowledging that the sole legal objective is detection, the secondary intelligence value is recognised throughout the force in accordance with the National Intelligence Model (NIM)
- Stop and search data is quality assured at force and divisional level as an integral part of the internal inspections process and externally through the Police and Crime Commissioner, Independent Advisory Groups and through public scrutiny and consultation
- Central quality assurance and ethnicity monitoring of the data recorded from officers carrying out their powers under Code A is undertaken
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PS 156:
Stop and Search
Type of Document:
Policy
Version:
4.0
Registered Owner:
Ch Supt Healey
Reviewer:
Ch Supt Healey/Ch Insp Jon Foy
Effective Date:
April 2022
Review Date:
April 2023
Replaces Document (if applicable):
N/A
Linked Documents:
N/A