According to Metropolitan Police figures, Newham was the second most-searched borough in London in 2019.

The police have power to stop and search under the 1989 Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Some 91% of people searched in Newham were male and 6,044 of them were described by police as Black; 5,386 White; 5,304 Asian; and 280 as ‘Other’.

Despite disproportionate levels of stop and search of Black men, they were less likely than white people to be found carrying anything incriminating.

Many who defend stop and search claim it prevents crime, specifically knife crime. In 2019, 76% of all searches led to no further action, compared to 71% in 2018.

Black people make up 15.6% of London’s population while white people make up 59.8%. (The Guardian, July 2020)

In 2018, 43% of searches involved Black people, compared to 35.5% of white people, according to the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

The likelihood of Black people being stopped was 4.3 times higher than white people in 2018, compared with 2.6 times more likely in 2014, according to MOPAC.

Around 16% of searches led to arrests. Arrest rates were lower for Black people. Where the reason for stopping was suspicion of carrying weapons, 21% of white people stopped led to an arrest against 16% for black people.

Overall “positive outcomes” where an offence is detected after a stop, were higher for white people than Black.

In the year to March 2018, Black people in England and Wales, excluding London, were 26 times more likely to be stopped. In the previous year they were six times more likely to be stopped.

In London, Black people were 12 times more likely to be stopped, compared with four times the previous year. Combined figures for England and Wales show Black people were 40 times more likely to be stopped, up from 14 times in 2017.

Police use of Taser rose by 30 per cent to 22,000 in England and Wales in 2018-19. One in five Taser incidents involved Black people, despite only making 3.3% of the total UK population.

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