StopWatch

stopwatchuk.substack.comSeptember 2026: Child-centred policing, an immature conceptResearch on child-centred policing suggests the idea is still in its infancy. But there may be limits to a version of procedural justice unable to deal with persistent racial profiling

September 2026 newsletter: Child-centred policing, an immature concept 🗞️ New research suggests the idea is still in its infancy. But there may be limits to a version of procedural justice unable to deal with persistent racial profiling stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/september-...

StopWatch reposted

Netpol

@netpol.org

In 1999, Netpol's campaigns coordinator helped organise the first United Families & Friends remembrance procession. Nobody imagined that eight Prime Ministers later, families would still have to march to demand police officers responsible for deaths face criminal charges netpol.org/2026/10/07/d...

morningstaronline.co.ukPolice up to 22 times more likely to use ‘completely useless’ stop-searches on black peoplePOLICE forces were up to 22 times more likely to use “completely useless” stop-and-search powers on black people than white in the last year, according to the campaign group StopWatch.The Home Office ...

The way section 60 search legislation is used on Black people, it’s more like a tool of social control rather than a specific crime-fighting tool morningstaronline.co.uk/article/poli...

gov.ukStop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2026Statistics on stop and search, arrests for notifiable offences. This release will also include statistics on detentions under Section 135 and Section 136 of the Mental Health Act previously included i...

*NEWS* 'Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2026' shows: ⬆️ an 11% rise in stop-searches overall, mirrored in the number of arrests following searches ❓ a persistent recording gap in self-defined ethnicity of persons searched by police www.gov.uk/government/s... 🧵

One in every ten arrests from searches is of a child (9,592 from 88,944). Most are for offensive weapons, drugs, and stolen property, but when split by arrest type, children are most heavily represented in section 60 arrests, making up 29% of 225 arrests under the power.

stop-watch.orgEthnicity gap in police search records obscures true picture of racial profilingDespite its limitations, official numbers prove targeting of racialised neighbourhoods in urban areas has intensified

🗞️ Read our quick-fire analysis of the new stop-search data on our website www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

Drugs were the most common reason for stop-searches conducted in 2025/26: 366,991, or 63% of all searches. There was a significant increase in drugs searches (+15%) on 2024/25, widening the gap from the next most common reason for searches (offensive weapons, which saw no significant change).

Police records show that children represent 17% of all searches in England and Wales (approx. 100,000). By volume, the most common reason for searches of children are for drugs and offensive weapons.

The proportion of stop and searches where self-defined ethnicity was not stated or unknown, remained at roughly just shy of one in every five searches (18%).

Historically this is amongst the worst years for data quality regarding ethnicity of persons searched, and continues a trend where the proportion of searches featured 'Not Stated' ethnicities far exceeds the 5% threshold last met in 2013/14.

The effect is exacerbated for section 60 searches: by our calculations, Black people were searched under the power *13.6 times* more than white people in England and Wales in the year to 31 March 2026.

While the volume of section 60 searches has increased (+13% to 6,340), the number of persons found and arrested for possession of offensive weapons fell sharply on the previous year and the general arrest rate remains low (3.5%).

Across all relevant legislation, 64% of searches resulted in ‘no further action’, down roughly 3 percentage points on the previous period (67% in 2024/25). The remaining 20.5% of searches ended with alternatives as the principle outcome, of which the almost half were community resolutions (10.1%).

By self-defined ethnicity, the disparity between Black and white people in stop-searches has crept up slightly: in 2024/25, Black people in England and Wales were stopped roughly 3.8 times more often. In 2025/26 they were stopped 4.1 times more often.

There were a total of 586,591 stop-searches in 2025/26, +10.9% on the previous period. The increase was driven by an identical percentage-point increase in searches under section 1 PACE and associated legislation (from 523,177 in 2024/25 to 580,068 in 2025/26).

As the number of arrests following searches under all legislation increased 11.5% (to 88,944) in the year ending March 2026, this meant that the proportion of arrests (15.2%) remained about the same as the previous year period. It remains below the peak arrest rate (17.1%) from 2016/17 and 2017/18.

StopWatch reposted

justgiving.comHelp raise £1000 to Fund EMDR Therapy for PTSD Recovery – JustGiving CrowdfundingIʼm raising money to Fund EMDR Therapy for PTSD Recovery. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

21 Sept

We're sharing a fundraiser for member, caseworker and speaker #JohnPegram, diagnosed with #PTSD from a 2021 #databreach caused by police. After over three years of fighting, he needs funds for #EMDR while his income recovers. #shareanddonate #WeCopWatch www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

StopWatch reposted

Netpol

@netpol.org

7 Sept

Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Brookes said: "it is important to note that we do not as a matter of course monitor peaceful protestors, and their political viewpoints are not taken into consideration." This is an absolute 100% lie www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukKent Police defend response to Port of Dover protestAn MP has questioned why Kent Police did not know beforehand about the protest on Saturday.

StopWatch reposted

voice-online.co.ukInvestigation launched following death of Black man in police custody in Croydon - Voice OnlineThe Metropolitan Police say the case has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) - who are now investigating

2 Sept

www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/st-... #CommunitiesAgainstRacism 19/9/26 #JohnPegram of our core team is hosting a know your rights workshop for parents and families! It’s a vital event and we look forward to seeing you there! #WeCopWatch

StopWatch reposted

Sinai Fleary 🇬🇩🇻🇨

@sfleary1.bsky.social

2 Sept

NEW: Investigation launched following death of Black man in police custody in Croydon 🙏🏾 On 21 August, officers carrying out cell checks, found a 52-year-old man unresponsive. The Metropolitan Police has confirmed with me, the man was Black. www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news...

stopwatchuk.substack.comAugust 2026: Police confidence vs public safety‘Mad’ reaction to exploratory proposals by the Green party to ban police use of Tasers and pepper spray is an exercise in how consent for officers to use force with impunity is manufactured

31 Aug

August 2026 newsletter: Police confidence vs public safety 🗞️ ‘Mad’ reaction to exploratory proposals by the Green party to ban police use of Tasers and pepper spray is an exercise in how consent for officers to use force with impunity is manufactured stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/august-202...

stop-watch.orgA critique of new 'highs' in Met stop-search figures'Record find rate' figures reported in national press fail to tell the full story

28 Aug

OPINION: Reports that the Met police achieved 'the highest find rate in the force’s history' for stop and search earlier this year need to be critically reported and framed in the correct context by media outlets www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

StopWatch reposted

Streets Kitchen

@streetskitchen.bsky.social

27 Aug

🚨A Metropolitan Police officer who said he hated #homeless people and "couldn't wait" to Taser someone has been sacked from the force... The 12th now from Charing Cross station since the panorama investigation! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukTwelfth Met Police officer sacked over Charing Cross Panorama filmPC Lloyd Hunter was filmed during an undercover sting saying Tasering people was "just so much fun".

StopWatch reposted

bristolpost.co.ukNine people died after contact with Avon & Somerset PoliceAvon and Somerset Police say they take safeguarding duties seriously

26 Aug

"Nine people died during or after contact with Avon and Somerset police last year – the joint fourth highest in the country." #WeCopWatch #SayTheirNames www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

StopWatch reposted

Sian Berry MP

@sianberry.bsky.social

13 Aug

Artificial intelligence surveillance carries profound risks to human rights. Soon MPs will finally have a chance to reject the idea of total state surveillance, and put proper controls on this intrusive technology. We must follow the example of the EU and end this legal wild west.

The Guardian@theguardian.com

Live facial recognition cameras to be used on UK’s busiest shopping street

theguardian.comLive facial recognition cameras to be used on UK’s busiest shopping streetSadiq Khan has indicated the technology will be deployed on London’s Oxford Street despite human rights concerns The Metropolitan police are understood to be planning to use live facial recognition (LFR) technology on Britain’s busiest shopping street. In June the Met said it would introduce the technology in London’s West End by Christmas and into a further six areas next year. Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, has indicated that the newly pedestrianised Oxford Street will be included. Continue reading...

stop-watch.orgSerious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime, evaluation saysPilot costs £300,000; recovers only one weapon in two years

Serious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime or weapons offending, says Home Office evaluation Results from a 2-yr pilot reveal that only ONE weapon was recovered from searches under the power across the four trial police force areas www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

On the necessity of SVROs from the court’s perspective: "[T]he most common reason for eligible individuals not receiving an SVRO where an application was made was rejection in court by the judiciary, often due to insufficient evidence or lack of necessity/proportionality." REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

stop-watch.orgReview of Serious Violence Reduction Orders pilotOur analysis of the SVRO pilot evaluation finds the power had no impact on violent crime, as we predicted 5 years ago

You can read more about the failed SVRO pilot and view our ratings scorecard in full on our website: www.stop-watch.org/what-we-do/p...

stop-watch.orgSerious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime, evaluation saysPilot costs £300,000; recovers only one weapon in two years

On the indefinite renewal of orders: The absence of rehabilitative elements in the order was ‘widely seen as a barrier to deterrence and sustained behaviour change’... it is not clear how SVROs will change behaviour to impact offending. REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

On the impact on vulnerable populations: [S]crutiny and fair use panels identified an 'unexpected disproportionality': some homeless individuals had been subjected to multiple stop and searches. REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

stop-watch.orgSerious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime, evaluation saysPilot costs £300,000; recovers only one weapon in two years

SVRO recipients were... significantly more likely to be stopped and searched (20.9%)... this increase may be ‘a reflection of increased police attention and detection, rather than a change in the underlying offending behaviour.’ INADEQUATE

On legal safeguards and arbitrary discretion: [Some o]fficers conducted SVRO stop-searches ‘every time they encounter[ed] the individual’... there was just one stop and search incident where the SVRO legal power was used and a weapon was found, yielding a find rate of 0.3%. REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT

stop-watch.orgSerious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime, evaluation saysPilot costs £300,000; recovers only one weapon in two years

We rated the effectiveness of SVROs as follows: SVROs had no statistically significant impact on violent re-offending during the pilot period, meaning ‘the intended deterrent effect of SVROs on serious violence was therefore not observed’. INADEQUATE

StopWatch reposted

Liberty

@libertyhq.bsky.social

independent.co.ukOxford Street shoppers to have faces scanned by controversial techLFR has been widely criticised by human rights groups, with one organisation describing the rollout as an escalation in routine public surveillance

Every police force in the country is using some form of facial recognition. But polling has suggested that 48% of people oppose scanning the faces of those walking on high streets when there is no suspected imminent threat. We urgently need safeguards on how this tech is used.

Liberty@libertyhq.bsky.social

NEW 🚨 The Mayor of London has said static facial recognition cameras will be placed on pedestrianised Oxford Street. This is a significant escalation of technology that is capable of tracking and identifying us as we go about our daily lives. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

StopWatch reposted

Liberty

@libertyhq.bsky.social

11 Aug

The British Transport Police are extending their trial of facial recognition to London tube stations 🚨 The six month trial has already scanned over half a million people but resulted in zero matches and just one false flag. Yet they’re continuing to expand it's use...

bbc.co.ukFacial recognition cameras to be trialled at London Tube stationsThe British Transport Police says the technology will only identify those wanted by authorities.

stopwatchuk.substack.comJuly 2026: Differential treatment, againExcessive force used on another Black boy in London, Norfolk police caught on camera making racist (plus transphobic and other offensive) remarks, but ethnic disproportionality remains a mystery

31 July

July 2026 newsletter: Differential treatment, again 🗞️ Black boy roughly manhandled, handcuffed, and searched for playfighting with his white friends (who aren't) in one force, while officers from another boast about illegally stop-searching IC3 females stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/july-2026-...

stopwatchuk.substack.comJune 2026: Differential treatmentThe commentariat and political classes lay the blame for police response to fatal stabbing in the wrong places, overlooking the disturbing phenomenon of routine handcuffing in the process

30 June

June 2026 newsletter: Differential treatment 🗞️ Routine handcuffing overlooked as a fundamental problem with police-civilian interactions, while forces ramp up technological policing 'solutions' such as facial recognition and AI everywhere else you look stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/june-2026-...

StopWatch reposted

wired.comBritish Police Built a Sprawling Crime-Prediction Machine. Some Results Couldn’t Be TrustedAs UK police embrace the AI revolution, a WIRED investigation reveals the messy inside story of one region’s experiment with predictive analytics.

25 June

Marsh claims effective #AI should be “injected like heroin.” Operational efficiency seems to take precedence over our human rights. #JohnPegram from our team knows this well. #WeCopWatch www.wired.com/story/britis...

StopWatch reposted

HJA Civil Liberties

@hjacivillibs.bsky.social

23 June

The Met police is to expand its use of live facial recognition technology, first into London’s West End by Christmas and then into a further six areas next year, as critics say tens of thousands of people will be forced into ‘digital police lineup’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.comMet to expand use of live facial recognition into central London by ChristmasTechnology to be used in six more areas next year as critics say tens of thousands of people will be forced into ‘digital police lineup’

bbc.co.ukGreater Manchester Police accused of 'heavy-handed' dispersal responseFootage shared widely online shows screaming children being ushered on to trains at Manchester Victoria.

22 June

'If you ask for my honest opinion, is there two-tier policing in Manchester, I will say to you absolutely not' Really? Perhaps he wants to tell that to the parents of Romani Gypsy and Irish Traveller children visiting a Xmas market in 2024 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... bsky.app/profile/stop...

StopWatch@stopwatchuk.bsky.social

Greater Manchester police chief thinks his force has 'uncritically adopted language that persuades people that perhaps we are not as impartial as we should be' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.ukGMP chief addresses two-tier policing concerns after Nowak murderChief Constable Sir Stephen Watson acknowledges the perception that not everybody is treated equally.

bbc.co.ukGMP chief addresses two-tier policing concerns after Nowak murderChief Constable Sir Stephen Watson acknowledges the perception that not everybody is treated equally.

22 June

Greater Manchester police chief thinks his force has 'uncritically adopted language that persuades people that perhaps we are not as impartial as we should be' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

StopWatch reposted

Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

@bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social

10 June

Replying to @bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social

Monday night’s brutal knife attack rightly drew universal censure. We are now seeing a pattern of coordinated far right activists hijacking tragic and emotive incidents to incite violence against migrants and minoritised communities.

StopWatch reposted

JUSTICE

@justicehq.bsky.social

3 June

Not a single UK law mentions artificial intelligence by name. In this week's podcast, Ellen Lefley, JUSTICE’s deputy legal director, warns that the lack of national legislation governing the use of AI is putting civil liberties at risk. 🎧📺 Watch or listen here: justice.org.uk/news/nationa...

StopWatch reposted

Adam Bienkov

@adambienkov.bsky.social

4 June

So the police force accused by Nigel Farage of "anti-white racism" is over five times more likely to target black people for stop and searches than white people The figure is higher than the average for England and has got worse over recent years www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.comNowak murder: police accused of ‘anti-white bias’ five times more likely to stop black peopleHampshire force whose officers responded to the murder of 18-year-old has a higher than average racial disparity