Lancashire Constabulary: Stop and Search

(asked on 11th February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of the usage of stop and search powers by Lancashire Police; and if her Department will take steps to encourage that police force to increase its use of stop and search powers to help tackle crime in that area.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 19th February 2020

The police have the government's full support in the fair and targeted use of stop and search to crack down on criminality and violent crime. That is why, last year, we started a national pilot to test a relaxation of voluntary restrictions on "no suspicion" Section 60 powers, used when the police anticipate serious violence.

Stop and search in Lancashire increased 39% in 2018/19 compared with 2017/18, the first year-on-year increase since 2010/11. This is similar to the national trend.

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of stop and searches conducted by each police force in England and Wales on an annual basis. Results are published in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2019

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