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Police stops for drugs: Exploring the use of stop and search for drug offences in England
Thu, September 12, 5:30 to 6:45pm, Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, Floor: Ground floor, Petre Antonescu Room (1.30)Abstract
The police power to stop and search members of the public is a core activity used to investigate and target illicit drugs that causes ongoing international debate. Proponents of police stop and search powers argue that they are essential to address drug-related crime, deter drug use and improve public safety. However, there is increasing evidence that stop and search generates a range of adverse effects, including the disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities and young people, poor mental health outcomes, increased police use of force and strained police and community relationships.
The aim of this research is to examine how police officers in England use stop and search to target and investigate drug offences. This research is primarily based on ethnographic methods, through over 350 hours of observation across three community policing teams between October 2021 and January 2022. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were also conducted with frontline and senior police officers and with key stakeholders engaged in stop and search policy at a national level.
This research takes a critical realist approach to identify the underlying mechanisms that drive different stop and search outcomes, as well as the contextual conditions that enable the operation of these mechanisms. This research shows how police use a range of different stop practices, including ‘stop and account’, traffic stops and stop and search, to target drug offences. Beyond detecting offences, officers justify stops as serving a range of purposes such as collecting intelligence or protecting young people. Yet, the research demonstrates that the use of stop and search is over-valued at a national, organisational and local level and that its use in practice is at odds with the stated objective of addressing serious drug offences and associated violence. This has important implications for drug law enforcement policy and practice in the UK context and internationally.