The Proportionality of Police Stop and Search in the Coronavirus Pandemic

Sage Open, Volume 14, Issue 3, July-September 2024.
Multiple studies and reports have now concluded that the police in the United Kingdom (UK) disproportionately enforced coronavirus legislation against black and minority ethnic communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This disproportionality was enforced through coronavirus fines which were introduced as part of coercive measures designed to restrict the movement of citizens. The use of coercive tactics by the police as a tool for maintaining order is not unheard of, and stopping and searching citizens is one method that is used to achieve this. This study therefore seeks to establish if the stop and search tactic was used proportionately by the police during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this, we examine the application of the tactic in the UK, where data from stop and search records from all police services in England and Wales is publicly available. By using descriptive statistics, combined with modeling designed to detect anomalies, data from a 5 year period that includes the relevant periods of the UK pandemic is examined. Results identify significant rises in the use of the tactic during periods of lockdown, which when compared to white citizens, illustrates that the rises disproportionately affected Black, Asian, and young people aged 18 to 24. We discuss these findings against a backdrop of reduced recorded crime and wider traditional police demand, along with correlations in increased police activity related to the issuance of coronavirus fines. In conclusion, we suggest that both coronavirus legislation and stop and search may have been used together by the police as tactics to maintain order, specifically adherence to periods of coronavirus lockdowns.

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