Section 60 Stop Search Statistics
Date of request: 21 January 2025
Reference: 111-25
Request
I am requesting more detail on stop and search statistics, specifically those made under Section 60, “suspicionless” searches and allegedly mostly being of young people.
I have read a report in Bristol Cable which says the rate of finding offensive weapons in these searches is less than 1%. This contrasts with your published data for all stop and search, for example a vague ” find rate ” Oct 22 to Sep 2024 of 35.9% for something found. I assume this includes drugs, dangerous items, offensive weapons, toy firearms. Firearms, perhaps even cigarettes etc if possessor is under age. So in order to counter what I perceive may be disinformation, it would be helpful, and in the public interest, for you to publish a more detailed breakdown. This could be in your most easily compiled time period, from 2 years to 1 month for example.
Response
We understand your question to be asking about search powers afforded by Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
In relation to stop searches specifically under Section 60, here is the find rate for each year 2023 and 2024 and a breakdown of what items were found:
2023 – no Section 60 searches conducted.
2024 – 68 people were searched under Section 60. Cannabis was found in 7 cases; a knife was found in 1 case. The remaining 60 searches found nothing. We had no searches where both a knife and cannabis were found on the same person.
Please note that we are also able to search for knives under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, and some are also found unexpectedly when we search for drugs under Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.