Hertfordshire Constabulary Launch 'Best Use of Stop and Search'

Further to our coverage on this site of the draft Lib Dem 2015 Manifesto proposal of 13 August to review Police Stop and Search methods, it appears the Lib Dems are not the only ones who feel a review is needed.

Hertfordshire Constabulary have launched two key elements of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, recently headlined by Home Secretary Theresa May (August 26).

While stop and search is undoubtedly an important police power, when it is misused it can be counter-productive. It can be an enormous waste of police time and, when innocent people are stopped and searched for no good reason, it is hugely damaging to the relationship between the police and public.

This voluntary scheme, is designed to contribute to a significant reduction in the overall use of stop and search, deliver better and more intelligence-led stop and search, and improve stop-to-arrest ratios. It will also provide the public with further information on the outcome of searches.

Hertfordshire Constabulary will:

• Increase transparency by recording all outcomes of stop and search and whether there is a connection between the grounds for the search and the outcome
• Restrict the use of Section 60 "no suspicion" powers. Already used only when necessary, under this scheme, the chief officer must make the decision whether to authorise the use of such powers. In cases where the chief officer anticipates serious violence, that officer must reasonably believe that violence "will" rather than "may" take place, as it stands now.

By November, Hertfordshire Constabulary will fully comply with the scheme by:

• giving members of the public the opportunity to observe stop and search in practice
• introducing a community complaints trigger.

All 43 police forces in England and Wales have signed up to the scheme but only 24, including Hertfordshire Constabulary, will implement the additional data recording and "no-suspicion" measures, reforming their use of stop and search powers. The additional information which forces will capture as a result of the Scheme will be published on their website in due course.

Hertfordshire's Chief Constable Andy Bliss said: "The Constabulary is fully committed to the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme and supportive of what it seeks to achieve."

Chief Executive of the College of Policing, Chief Constable Alex Marshall said "There are many areas of good practice where stop and search has reduced, the quality of encounter has gone up and arrest ratios increased. The College will be sharing that across the country so that we see the changes needed to ensure that the communities we serve have confidence in their police officers to use these important powers proportionately, effectively and fairly."

Insofar as it requires the use of camera's to record each incident, The Lib Dem proposal goes further and introduce additional safeguards.