By David S. Abrams, Hanming Fang and Priyanka Goonetilleke

Police “stop-and-frisks” of pedestrians and motorists have become an increasingly controversial tactic, given low average rates of contraband discovery, incidents of abuse, and evidence of racial disparity. Study of the tactic by economists has been much influenced by Knowles, Persico, and Todd (2001; hereafter, KPT) who first suggested the use of a “hit rate” (contraband discovery rate per frisk) test to distinguish racial prejudice from statistical discrimination in highway searches by police officers. Models used by KPT and almost all subsequent literature (e.g., Anwar and Fang 2006) on the subject imply diminishing marginal returns to frisks. That is, if frisks decrease substantially, the rate of contraband discovery should rise, ceteris paribus. This is the first paper to test this assumption empirically using arguably exogenous variations in frisk rates (cf. Feigenberg and Miller 2022). 1 We study the period around the nationwide protests that followed the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, after which police frisks dropped tremendously and rapidly. Using extremely granular data from Chicago, we find that hit rates increased as police frisks plunged, in line with the predictions of KPT.

AEA Papers and Proceedings 2022, 112: 178–183 ,2022. 7p.

By Kirat Kaur Kalyan & Peter Keeling  

It is irrefutable that citizens should enjoy freedom of movement and an expectation of an uninterrupted private life; these protections underpin our democracy and uphold our fundamental human rights. These expectations are acutely relevant to the use of stop and search and it is essential that all powers exercised by the police are used lawfully, only when necessary and are proportionate, but more importantly, that they are seen to be so. The assessment and recommendations set out in this report provide a valuable commentary on the expectations communities have as to how the police should operate when tackling violent crime and upholding the law, as well as providing an important reminder that policing is underpinned by public consent. As well as providing a constructive interpretation on the value of stop and search powers and the importance of active monitoring arrangements, the report provides helpful examples of where police forces and communities have successfully come together to stimulate improvements in police operational activity as well as promote confidence that officers are acting in the public interest and with proper regard to the Codes of Conduct that govern their powers and the use of force.

London: Criminal Justice Alliance,  2019.  24p.

By Amal Ali and Nina Champion

  It is widely accepted that policing is most effective when it secures the co-operation, trust, and confidence of the public. The police themselves recognise that these features are critical to their relationship with the public and form an important part of their day-to-day working culture. This co-operation, trust and confidence is being undermined by unfair and disproportionate stop and search practices. Such practices cause alarm and distress to members of the public, damage trust and confidence in policing, and make the police’s job more difficult overall. We therefore believe that due to the harms outlined in this report, the government must urgently repeal the harmful s.60 police power and instead invest in working with communities to improve trust and confidence and tackle the root causes of violent crime. Furthermore, insufficient scrutiny of stop and search powers means that the police are not effectively being held to account where there is evidence of unfair and discriminatory use of these powers. Fair and effective community scrutiny for all police forces should be mandated, adequately resourced and supported by an independent national body. Section 60 (s.60) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order (CJPO) Act 1994 allows a constable in uniform to stop and search any pedestrian, or any vehicle for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments. This legislation was originally introduced to tackle football hooliganism and the threat of serious violence at football games. Today, s.60 permits officers to search a person or vehicle in anticipation of violence if an officer of or above…..

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  the rank of inspector ‘reasonably believes that incidents involving serious violence may take place in any locality’. These powers are only to be authorised in a designated area for a specific period of time.

London: Criminal Justice Alliance, 2021.  38p.

By Amber Evans, Patrick Olajide, Isabella Ross and Jon Clements

In our previous research, focusing on adults, we found that despite support for the use of stop and search powers in principle, there were deep misgivings among Black adults about the way stop and search was carried out in practice, as well as the general service and treatment they received from the police. For Black children, these misgivings were amplified. They have less trust in the police than children from every other ethnic group, and less trust than Black adults do. This report, which is the second of three publications related to our research project, focuses specifically on the views of children and teenagers. It is based on findings from three focus groups with predominantly Black or Black and Mixed ethnicity children, and a survey of 1,542 ten to 18 year olds, 100 of whom were Black.   

London: Crest Advisory, 2022. 55p.

By Amber Evans, Patrick Olajide and Jon Clements

In recent years, the police use of stop and search powers has become a totemic issue - many have argued that it is the main (or primary) cause of low confidence among Black communities in the UK, when compared to the rest of the population. However, our research, which draws on the most comprehensive survey of Black adults’ views about policing ever conducted in England and Wales, suggests that Black people’s concerns about the use of stop and search cannot be viewed in isolation; instead their attitudes towards its use by the police are shaped by, and closely connected to, their experience of policing as a whole. Black adults expressed at least as much concern about a perceived failure by policing to get ‘the basics’ right for their communities, such as responding to emergencies, investigating crime and engaging with victims, as they did about the use of stop and search. This report, which is the first of three publications related to this research, and specifically focuses on the views of adults.  

London: Crest Advisory. 2022. 97p.