Black and Asian people more likely to be searched by police in West Midlands

New figures show that black people in the West Midlands are 4.4 times more likely to be searched by police than white people.

Police stopped and searched more people between 2021 and 2022 than the previous year across the region. Those people were also more likely to be Black or Asian, as opposed to white people. Latest figures show that Asian people are also 2.7 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

West Midlands Police has announced that they are now reviewing mechanisms which will allow members of the public to access body worn video (BWV) footage of their search. The decision has been made for footage of all searches conducted on black males between 18-34 to be reviewed by a supervisor.

If such searches are not recorded, the officer involved will need to justify this decision. In the period April 2021-March 2022, 95.3% of stop and searches were recorded using BWV.

What’s been said about the figures?

Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said: “I have had regard to the disproportionality figures set out in the report. I am pleased action is being taken to address this.

“For example, I welcome the requirement that all searches conducted on black males between 18 and 34 years old are to be subject to a supervisor review of the body worn video footage. However, I am disappointed to see that, despite the work West Midlands Police has been carrying out as part of the Fairness and Belonging Strategy, disproportionality has deteriorated, rather than improved.

“I will be working with West Midlands Police to identify what action needs to be taken to remedy this as a matter of urgency.”

Between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, West Midlands police officers completed 27,061 searches (the previous year, 26,058 were completed). The Asian search ratio was at 2.7 and the Black search ratio at 4.4 (up from 2.6 and 3.9 respectively).

This means Asian people were almost three times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, and white and black people were over four times as likely to be stopped and searched. These statistics were discussed at a meeting of the Strategic Policing and Crime Board on Tuesday (June 28).

Board member Charmaine Burton asked how the police were relieving anxiety for black people who worried about what they wore when out in public in case it made them more likely to get stopped.

Chief Superintendent Richard North added: “It’s a subjective judgement of the officer but it has to be based on other factors; it can’t just be based solely on someone’s appearance. An officer might have a description that directs them towards a particular group and then they have to make a judgement based on the information, situation, the proximity to when that information came in.

“There might even be intelligence based on that particular area but it can never just be based on whether they think this part of the community habitually carries a knife. That would be unlawful.”

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