Police vehicle stops to be recorded to help confront racial disproportionality

report coverAn ethnographic study has significantly influenced national policy and practice on racial disproportionality in the use of police powers.

Prof Geoff Pearson from The University of Manchester and Dr Mike Rowe from The University of Liverpool, supported by the N8 Policing Research Partnership, spent six years conducting observational research with front-line officers in the north of England. They found that many officers used Road Traffic Act routine vehicle stops to ‘fish’ for evidence of criminal activity (usually drug or gang-related). Many of these stops then escalated into a stop and search, which data consistently show are used far more against Black men than any other group.  However, until this year, no record was kept of those subjected to routine vehicle stops (although records are usually kept of the vehicle registration).

Published in Police Street Powers and Criminal Justice (Hart: 2020) and ‘Gone Fishing’ (Criminology & Criminal Justice, 2023), the investigators recommended that all vehicle stops should be recorded, to identify any racial disproportionality in their use and investigate links between vehicle stops and disproportionality in stop and search. As many traffic stops occur before it is possible to determine the ethnic identity of the occupants, the researchers argued that comparing vehicle stop data with stop and search data will help to identify the extent to which disproportionality is driven by officer bias or structural issues (e.g. where stops are conducted).

The recommendations were adopted by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and subsequently by the National Police Chief’s Council and College of Policing. Several forces have already conducted trials and by 2024 it is anticipated that all routine vehicle stops nationally will be recorded to identify both reasons for the stop and the demographic details of vehicle occupants.