The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Tayside search rate higher than London
Police officers in Tayside carried out proportionately more stop and searches than the Metropolitan Police did in London, according to a new report.
The policy has proven to be one of Police Scotland’s most controversial since the single force’s inception with new research providing more fuel for the fire.
Stop and search expert Kath Murray, of Edinburgh University, compared frisk levels in the 14 Scottish police divisions with the latest data for 43 forces in England and Wales.
This revealed the rate in Glasgow is almost 19 times higher than in Greater Manchester, with the level across Scotland as a whole four times the per capita rate of England and Wales.
The Tayside rate was 37 searches per 1,000 population. Greater Glasgow’s rate was 191 and London’s 35.
Dr Murray’s peer reviewed report will be published by the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research.
Chief Superintendent Barry McEwan, head of licensing and the violence reduction unit, said: “The use of stop and search is one of several legitimate policing tactics used to tackle the issues local communities tell us matter to them.
“Used in the right place at the right time, it can play a key role in keeping people safe.”