Wiltshire Police

Stop and Search Overview

Fiscal Quarter 1 2020-2021

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 Key Findings
For the first fiscal quarter of 2020-2021:

 Wiltshire Police have recorded 843 Stop and Searches and 82 Stop and
Accounts;

 The highest proportion of Stop and Searches were conducted within the Wiltshire
West area, contributing to 21.9% of the total. Swindon South contributed to 21.6%
of the total Stop and Searches for this period and Wiltshire North contributed
20.5%;

 Of the total volume of Stop and Searches, 84.8% involved the search for a
controlled drug. Of the same total, 11.4% had multiple search reasons attached
to the record;

 The proportion of Stop and Searches resulting in police action was 18%, with 5.7%
of the total resulting in an arrest. Those that resulted in no further action equated
to 78.8%. 3.2% of Stop and Searches did not have an outcome recorded, whilst
4.6% had multiple outcomes;

 Of the total volume of Stop and Searches, 76.2% of cases resulted in no object
being found and with 22.6% resulted in an object being found. 1.2% of searches
did not have this information recorded. Of the searches resulting in an object
found, 21.3% were objects related to the reason for the Stop and Search;

 As a breakdown of the BAME ethnicity group, a person who identified as being

from a:

• Black ethnicity group was 6.27 times more likely to be Stop and Searched;

• Asian ethnicity group was 1.87 times more likely;

• Mixed ethnicity group was 2.53 times more likely;

• Chinese ethnicity group was 1.55 times more likely.

 Wiltshire Police are heavily involved in proactive operations to tackle youth

violence and county lines and as a result 51.5% of those people stopped were
under the age of 25. The youngest person Stop and Searched during this period
was 12 years old;

 Of the 843 Stop and Searches recorded, most (71.9%) were conducted between
the hours of 1pm and 12am.

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By Area

The above bar chart gives a visual representation of the volume of Stop and Searches
recorded across Wiltshire's police force area. The bar chart shows that Wiltshire West
have recorded the largest proportion of Stop and Searches, followed by Swindon
South, Wiltshire North and Swindon North.

Swindon continues to be the most impacted by County Lines due to its location on the
M4 corridor and its transport connections to London. Of these Stop and Searches in
the Swindon South area, 78.6% were related to controlled drugs. In 29.9% of these
cases, the object searched for was found and 25% of these resulted in an arrest.

Salisbury has seen an increase in County Lines activity and Stop and Searches have
also increased, most significantly in the city center.

In the Salisbury area, 75% of Stop Searches were related to controlled drugs. In
28.2% of cases, the object searched for was found and 25% of all searches in
Salisbury resulted in an arrest.

By Reason for the Search

For each recorded Stop and Search,

there is the option to have multiple
reasons for why the Stop Search was
conducted. This results in a larger
volume of recorded search reasons
compared to the total volume of
Stop and Searches.

For the most recent quarter, this has

resulted in 11.4% of Stop and
Searches being connected to more
than one search reason.

84.8% of Stop and Searches involved the search for a controlled drug.

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By Object Found

As part of a Stop and Search, we must

define whether any object was found as part of
that search.

Of the 843 Stop and Searches recorded, 76.2%

resulted in no object being found and 22.7% resulted
in an object being found whether it was the intention
of the search or not.

Of the 22.7%, 21.3% related to the intended object

that was being searched for, meaning that 1.4% of
the objects found were not the intention of the
original search.

The remaining 1.1% do not have an outcome stated.

At present we are developing the ability to report on the results of those objects
found through data extraction software and hope to report on this in the near
future.

By Police Action Taken

Please note that one Stop and Search can have multiple outcomes.

Of the 843 Stop and Searches recorded, 78.8% ended with no further action
to be taken. 18% resulted in police action, 28.3% of which resulted in arrest.

3.2% of Stop and Searches in this period did not have an outcome recorded.

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By Disproportionality
Disproportionality refers to a situation in which racial or ethnic groups are represented
at a higher proportion than other racial or ethnic groups. It looks at the relative ratios
of those people Stop and Searched as a proportion of the resident population in the
specified area.

Wiltshire population data is based on the 2011 Census, as such analysis should be
considered cautiously considering the length of time since the last Census.

During this fiscal quarter, on average 1.29 in every 1,000 of Wiltshire's population who
belong to a BAME ethnicity group were Stop and Searched. This further breaks
down into the following ethnicity categories:
• Asian Ethnicity Group - 0.63 in every 1,000;
• Black Ethnicity Group - 2.03 in every 1,000;
• Chinese or Other Ethnicity Group - 0.81 in every 1,000;
• Mixed Ethnicity Group - 1.13 in every 1,000;
• White Ethnicity Group - 0.32 in every 1,000.

__________________________________________
Population data from the 2011 Census, based on whole population. Data available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/
census/2011census/2011censusdata 5
By Age Range

Of the 843 Stop and Searches recorded, 392 were to stop a person under the
age of 25.

As a breakdown of the age groups stopped:

• 10 to 17 year olds account for 20.8%;

• 18 to 24 year olds, 30.7%;
• 25 to 34 year olds, 26.9%;
• 35 to 59 year olds, 19.8%;
• Over 60 year olds, 0.4%;
• Not Stated, 1.4%.

At present, Wiltshire Police are heavily engaged in proactive operations to

tackle the increase in youth violence and County Lines. This is represented in
the high proportions of those individuals stopped under the age of 25.

By Hour of the Day

The above heat map shows that 547 of the 843 Stop and Searches in this period
were conducted between the hours of 1pm and 12am.

214 Stop and Searches were conducted between 1am and 12pm. In 82 cases,
the time of search was not recorded.
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By Gender

When looking at the breakdown of

genders, Males feature as the most
predominant gender Stop and
Searched at 80.8%.

The proportion of Females stopped

was 17.6%, with the remaining 1.6%
Unknown or not recorded.

By Type of Search and Clothing Removed

46.6% of the 843 Stop and Searches recorded during this fiscal quarter were
recorded as a pat-down. In 78.1% of all cases, no clothes were removed
from the person and 6.2% involved the removal of outer clothes only.

The above table identifies that 37 cases were a full strip search, 24 (64.9%) of
which resulted in the exposure of intimate body parts. These 24 persons were
made up of 19 males and 5 females. This equates to 2.8% of all 843 recorded
Stop and Searches.

Those required to expose intimate parts were searched by officers of the same
gender in the accompaniment of another officer of the same gender. 25% of
these Stop and Searches resulted in the intended object of search being found.

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Stop and Account

A Stop and Account is a different process to a Stop and Search.

This is where an officer or PCSO stops a subject to ask questions such as where they are
going, why they are in an area and what are they carrying. The above line chart shows
that these make up a small proportion of our searches, contributing 8.9% to our overall
figures for this quarter.

Due to this type of stop's nature, limited information can be recorded, which is covered
below.

Stop and Accounts by Gender and Ethnicity of Subject

As you can see, most Stop and Accounts during this period were conducted against
Males (87.8%) and those who identify as White (70.7%).

It has also been noted that 75% of Stop and Accounts were conducted in Royal
Wootton Bassett. 37.8% of all stops occurred between 9pm and 11pm.

We have noticed an increase in Stop and Accounts during this fiscal quarter, due to
proactive efforts of Wiltshire Police officers during the COVID-19 lockdown period.