Rec 61 Community Evaluation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Stop and search: A Community Evaluation of Recommendation 61 in the London Borough of Hackney ________________________ A study conducted for the Metropolitan Police Authority “Anything that improves the relationship and makes things more transparent is a step in the right direction.” (Black African Male) “I have a record of why I was pulled and I’m aware of my rights under the law. They can’t abuse my rights.” (White British Male) “When I heard about Recommendation 61, I thought it was a good idea because it meant the police had to have a good reason to stop you. But when I got stopped the other day and asked for a record of the stop, they were really rude and told me to wait for 20 minutes whilst they completed the form.” (Black Caribbean Female) “The image of stopping Muslim-looking public has made the police's image appear much more anti-Black. I cannot see how the police's image will change to me without new policies to stop the police doing what they want to do.” (Bangladeshi Male) October 2004 Human Rights for Race Equality Stop and search: Community Evaluation of Recommendation 61 1 Contents Contents...............................................................................................................................2 List of Tables.......................................................................................................................5 List of Graphs......................................................................................................................6 Chapter 1 - Executive Summary ........................................................................................7 Chapter 2 - Introduction and Background ......................................................................12 Introduction .............................................................................................................................12 Public trust and confidence in the police.............................................................................14 Stop and search: the current picture....................................................................................15 The implementation of Recommendation 61 .......................................................................17 Chapter 3 – Research Methods........................................................................................22 Introduction .............................................................................................................................22 Aims and scope ......................................................................................................................22 Public survey...........................................................................................................................22 Public focus groups ...............................................................................................................24 Public interviews.....................................................................................................................25 Police interviews.....................................................................................................................25 Summary..................................................................................................................................26 Chapter 4 - Profile of respondents ..................................................................................27 Survey respondents ...............................................................................................................27 Focus group participants.......................................................................................................31 Public interviewees.................................................................................................................32 Police interviewees.................................................................................................................32 Chapter 5 - Levels of recording .......................................................................................33 Records given of stops ..........................................................................................................33 Perceived benefits of recording stops .................................................................................34 Chapter 6 - Public awareness ..........................................................................................35 Stop and search: Community Evaluation of Recommendation 61 2 Awareness of the public’s rights in encounters with the police .......................................35 General awareness of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and the Report..............................35 Awareness of Recommendation 61 ......................................................................................35 Summary..................................................................................................................................36 Chapter 7 - Public experience..........................................................................................37 Experiences of being stopped and searched ......................................................................37 Reasons given for stops ........................................................................................................41 Summary..................................................................................................................................44 Chapter 8 - Potential to improve police practice............................................................45 Summary..................................................................................................................................47 Chapter 9 - Effect on public trust and confidence .........................................................48 Chapter 10 - How to improve public confidence............................................................50 Community policing ...............................................................................................................51 Professional behaviour ..........................................................................................................52 Eliminating racism in the force .............................................................................................52 Representative police force in Hackney...............................................................................53 Improve police performance..................................................................................................53 Trust and confidence cannot be improved ..........................................................................54 Summary..................................................................................................................................54 Chapter 11 - Police views and experience during implementation ..............................55 Recording stops......................................................................................................................55 Self defined ethnicity..............................................................................................................55 Data analysis ...........................................................................................................................56 Officers’ stop practices..........................................................................................................57 Perceived Public awareness of Recommendation 61.........................................................58 Public Trust and Confidence .................................................................................................59 Stop and search: Community Evaluation of Recommendation 61 3 Key cases...........................................................................................................................60 Chapter 12 - Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................62 Appendices........................................................................................................................74 The 1990 Trust.........................................................................................................................74 Stop and Search Questionnaire ............................................................................................75 Focus Group Questions.........................................................................................................79 Public interview questions.....................................................................................................79 Police interview questions.....................................................................................................80 Draft evaluation criteria for implementation of Recommendation 61 ...............................82 Success criteria ......................................................................................................................82 Related monitoring and evaluation measures.....................................................................82 Stop and search: Community Evaluation of Recommendation 61 4 Human Rights for Race Equality List of Tables Table 1 - Survey sample by sample criteria ........................................................................28 Table 2 – Focus groups, by ethnicity, age and gender .......................................................31 Table 3 – Public interviewees, by ethnicity, age and gender ..............................................32