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The number of women subjected to stop and search by the police has risen despite a fall in the use of the tactic towards men, figures show.
Analysis of Home Office data reveals that thousands more searches of women took place in the year ending March 2024 than in the same period the year before. There were 59,549 searches of women, a 7% rise from the year before, and 447,952 searches of men, a 4% fall over the same period.
StopWatch, a police reform charity that campaigns against the use of stop and search and which analysed the data, also found 10,450 cases of the tactic used against girls.
A spokesperson said the rise in searches against women contradicts “persistent evidence” that officers discover “incredibly low” numbers of items, with the search routinely not resulting in further action being taken.
The data also showed a 10% increase in the number of arrests of women after a stop and search compared with 2% of men.
Jodie Bradshaw, policy and advocacy lead at StopWatch, said: “We don’t think that stop and search is fit for purpose. There are other strategies which are much more likely to bring about fewer crimes and for people to feel safe walking in public spaces and in the communities where they live.”
The police argue that stop and search is a key tool in tackling crime, particularly the rise in knife crime. Research published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology has found that the greater use of stop and search in London areas with high crime rates could bring down the number of knife attacks.
The Home Office data also showed that police forces in England and Wales submitted 747,396 use-of-force reports in the year ending March 2024, a rise of 13% on the year before. Use of force refers to officers using handcuffs, batons, tasers, firearms, limb or body restraints, and irritant sprays, among other measures.
Women were the subject of 18% of these incidents, with black women making up about 9% of the total, even though the latest census estimates they make up just 4% of the population.
Bradshaw argued that the police are more likely to patrol areas where a higher proportion of black, minority ethnic and marginalised groups live, and such communities are more likely to be stopped and searched as well as to have force used on them.
Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, a charity concerned with state-related deaths, said: “We know all too well that the use of force on women – particularly those who may have experienced violence and abuse – can be really traumatising.”
She said the rising number of stop and searches needs to be understood within the context of “increasing inequality, poverty and criminalisation”, and specifically the crackdown on protests and shoplifting.
Shenna D’archeville told the Observer about an incident when the police stopped her while driving in north London in March 2023. The 40-year-old, a children’s residential worker who shared her story with StopWatch, said a police car pulled over in front of her and put the sirens on but she carried on driving as she did not realise officers wanted her to stop.
D’archeville said officers ran towards her car and acted “aggressively”. She recalled an officer “yanking” the car door open and said her 11-year-old son, who was also in the vehicle, had been left shaken by the incident.
The police told her they were stopping her as there had been a lot of cars stolen in the area, and they performed routine checks before allowing her to drive off, she said.
D’archeville said she felt she had been racially profiled. She has been stopped while driving once before. “I was in a Mercedes,” D’archeville said. “When they see black people and black women in an expensive car, they will stop you for no reason.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Stop and search is a vital tool to tackle crime, but it’s crucial for public confidence in the police that it is used in an appropriate and fair way. The statistics referenced reflect the situation under the previous government.”
Assistant chief constable Andrew Mariner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stop and search, said: “Policing recognises that being subject to a stop and search can be traumatising, particularly in the case of a child or vulnerable person.
“We have been working with the College of Policing on refining the existing training for officers with a full review of the Authorised Professional Practice in respect of stop and search currently under way. This detailed and wide-ranging review is examining all aspects of stop and search and will make any necessary changes to policing policy and national practices.”
It is important that “each police interaction is handled sensitively, in line with policy, and that we learn when we have not got that balance right”, he added.
