[guardian.co.uk] The number of people stopped by the
police in 2007 has jumped by more than one-third in the past year to
nearly 2 million, government figures showed today. In the British
Crime Survey published today by the Ministry of Justice, police stopped
1.87 million people in 2006/07, where people were asked to account for
behaviour or actions. This was up from 1.4 million in 2005/2006.
The
stops required more members of the public to fill out controversial
forms, a practice which has been criticised for burdening officers with
unnecessary red tape.
The survey is the first time the government has published full figures on the unpopular paperwork.
A
review of the Home Office has already suggested revamping the system,
which was introduced after the racist murder of black teenager Stephen
Lawrence, by replacing the lengthy forms with a simple receipt.
Separate
figures on stop and searches showed black people were seven times more
likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people, a
slightly higher ratio than in the previous 12 months.
Asian people were twice as likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
Stop
and searches totalled 955,000 during 2006/07. This is an increase of
nearly 9% on 2005/6, and was the highest figure for seven years.
The
main reason for conducting a stop and search under these powers across
all ethnic groups was for drugs and stolen property, as was the case in
2005/6.
The survey also estimated that there were around 184,000
racially motivated incidents in 2006/07 compared with a total of
139,000 incidents reported in the previous BCS.
Other figures
also revealed a 23% rise in stop and search "in anticipation of
violence" including an 84% increase under this power in stopping black
people.
Meanwhile the number of searches of individuals made
under anti-terror laws fell by 16.5% in the year to 37,000 with the
biggest fall in this category being for Asians.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/08/police.uksecurity
