Is Stop And Search Useful

Is stop and search useful? This will be the focal point of this essay. The essay will include the functions of the police, history of police powers, the stop and search conducts - PACE, the recordings of stop and search, the disproportionality ratios of stop and search and research in this area.

Law enforcement, investigations of crime, arrest and deciding whether to pass the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, is what the police are responsible for. “They are also guardians of the Queen’s Peace and preserving law and order in society” (Davies, 2015, p.180). it requires the police to have a peace-keeping role by being on patrol in the streets and dealing with any occurring disputes. There are many different functions of the police, some

The research has provided a clear picture consisting of quantitative and qualitative research methods. Research by FitzGerald (1999) consisted of a range of interviews, focal point being London, with young people, community workers and police officers. After analysing the interviews, it was clear that the main area of concern, for young people, was the police officer’s behaviour and attitudes during the stop and search. They emphasised the significance of respect between officer and those being searched and to offer an explanation as to why they were being stopped in the first place. Also in the study, it was acknowledged by police officers and young people that individuals being searched could often show traits of hostility towards the officers. “This suggests that it is important for officers to know how to handle difficult members of the public without creating bad feeling.” (Miller, Bland and Quinton, 2000). The research mentioned above, by Stone and Pettigrew, 2000, came to very similar decisions, suggesting that politeness coming from the police officers is crucial to a co-operative search. Therefore, it is important that the police handle each stop and search incident with care as from the research by FitzGerald it’s clear that it can have an overall effect on the experience people have during a stop and

It suggests that both police officers and those being searched can be arrogant and rude to each other. This would then mean that neither side would be willing to give one hundred percent in the search. Therefore, in order get the full benefits of the search a rapport must be built to gain each-others trust and respect. With this in place the search can be carried appropriately. This then means that a recording of the search is more likely to be made accurately and