Black people are up to 48 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police in some of the most affluent areas of London, according to a new report.
The study found that the reasons given by officers for subjecting black people to the controversial power were more vague, with examples including a black person giving a “furtive glance.”
Stop and search is controversial because black people are more likely to be targeted amid accusations of bias.
The study was commissioned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s crime and policing office and carried out by King’s College London.
It looked at data from 2023 looking at 152,000 arrests made in London, and police on reasonable grounds said they had to use the power.
In England and Wales, black people are four times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people; for the Met it is 3.7 times, and around two-thirds of arrests lead to no action or the person arrested is wrongly suspected.
The study found pockets of high disproportionality, such as in East Sheen, in the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, where average house prices are over £1 million, where black people were 48 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
Black people were 40 times more likely to be stopped in the district covering Dulwich Village and, despite being 5.6% of the area’s population, black people were also numerically more stopped. There were 58 searches for black people, compared to 21 for white people, who represent 80% of the resident population of that area.
In the north London town of Hampstead, black people were 38 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
In approximately 25 of London’s 679 boroughs the disproportionality was 20 times greater, and in another 60 boroughs at least 10 times greater.
Dr Yijing Li, senior lecturer in urban informatics at King’s College London, said: “Our modeling revealed clear evidence of unexplained disproportionality in how stop and search powers are used across London.”
The study found evidence of weaker motives for stopping black people. In one case on the Strand in central London, an officer justified a stop by claiming that the person “passed by and stole a glance at me and immediately looked away”, and after denying having anything illegal “patted the right pocket of his jeans with his right hand, which was an involuntary action. I couldn’t see any lumps or lumps in his pocket, so I suspected he might be in possession of drugs, which are easily concealed.” The stop did not result in anything being found.
The study found this to be important because weaker motives lead to greater damage to trust in the police: “There is a clear correlation with public perceptions: the better the quality of the motives, the more positive the perception about the fair use of power.”
Of those detained, 65% of whites considered the procedure fair, and only 37% of blacks.
Negative experience can shake faith in the police. Of those who thought the police were fair when they were stopped, trust was 67%, trust was 43%, just a fraction lower than those who were never stopped. But those figures fell as people felt the stops were unfair: fewer than one in four had confidence in the Met.
Khan said: “This important new investigation shows significant and unacceptable levels of disproportionality which we must act on. That is why, alongside the other steps to support and hold the Met to account, I am introducing a mandatory annual report on how stop and search is used in London.
“We need to make good use of this power in London as the lives and trust of the community depend on it.”
The Home Office described the investigation’s findings as “groundbreaking” and said the Met should “act quickly on its findings.”
The Met said stops were more targeted and detecting more crime than before: “More than seven in 10 Londoners support stop and search, which, when used with precision and accuracy, is one of the most effective tools we have to deter violence and save lives.
“Our approach has evolved significantly since 2023 and we are using it more precisely, generating a higher proportion of positive results. Independent inspectors found that 95% of stops met the required standard in 2024.
“We also now have unprecedented levels of accountability. Each London borough has an independent community scrutiny panel, while our Stop and Search Charter, published last year, was drawn up directly with communities and outlines our commitment to consistency and fairness.
“This is helping us better understand the factors driving disproportionality and take appropriate action.”
