Black people ‘are six times more likely to be stopped...’
BLACK people in Wales are six times more likely to be stopped and searched by police as white people.
Last month, the new Home Secretary Priti Patel announced a nationwide extension of a scheme expanding police powers when it comes to stop and searches.
It will allow police to stop and search someone when they believe a crime may – rather than will – be committed.
Ms Patel says stop and search “works”, but race equality groups have condemned the decision, saying stop and search disproportionately targets black and ethnic minorities.
In an open later the the Home Secretary, a coalition of 20 race equality organisations express grave concerns with the new scheme.
They said: “Home Secretary Patel’s claims that ‘stop and search’ tactics are the foremost way to curtail serious
youth violence are erroneous at best and disingenuous at worst.
“The latest announcements by the Home Secretary represent regressive and counterproductive policing policy and cheap political point scoring.
“Deliberately or not, the Section 60 proposals are too often discriminatory, inflammatory, ineffectual in reducing serious violent crime, and ultimately alienating to a generation of young children and adults that are from Black, Asian and Ethnic minority heritage.”
Statistics released by the Home Office reveal that Welsh police stopped and searched black people across the country 399 times in 201718. It meant that black people had a one in 50 chance of being stopped and searched in Wales in 2017-18.
In comparison, white people were searched 9,100 times over the same period, giving them a one in 327 chance of being stopped and searched.
That makes black people six times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people – the biggest gap seen in our country in the last decade.
The fact that certain ethnicities are more likely to be targeted by stop and search in our area than ever comes despite pressure from the government to close that gap.
In 2014, police forces across the Wales and England agreed to reforms that were intended to eliminate discrimination in stop and search.
Black people were by far the most disproportionately stopped and searched ethnic group across Wales.
However, people of mixed heritage were also twice as likely to be stopped and searched by police as white people in 2017-18.
When the figures were first released in October last year, Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “It is essential that stop and search is used in an intelligence-led way. As the latest Home Office figures demonstrate, race disproportionality in the use of stop and search is still a significant issue.
“This is about trust and threatens relationships between police and the communities they are there to serve.
“We see no mention of race equality and no reference to improving services for ethnic minority groups in any Police and Crime Plan in England and Wales.
“We need police forces, the Home Office and Police and Crime Commissioners to make clear they take this responsibility seriously and tell us how they will engage effectively with ethnically diverse communities.”