A report published on 8 November by Crest Advisory surveyed over 5,000 adults in England and Wales and found that only 46% of Black people trust the police compared to 64% of White adults.

The report outlines five key findings. First, Black people are more worried about crime than the general population. Second, Black people’s confidence in the police is lower than the general population (and may be declining). Third, most people, irrespective of ethnicity, support the police having the right to use stop and search notwithstanding concerns about its usage in practice. Fourth, stop and search has a negative and traumatic effect on people, especially Black and mixed ethnicity adults. Finally, all racial groups are concerned about disproportionality in the utilisation of stop and search.

The report identified disparities between racial groups’ experiences of the police.  69% of Black adults surveyed believe they do not get the service or protection they need from the police and 61% of Black adults surveyed found their experience of being stopped and searched humiliating, compared to 49% of White adults.

Similarly, 72% of Black adults stated the police do not treat people from ethnic minority backgrounds the same as White British people, whereas 36% of White adults agreed with this statement.

Nonetheless, these results occurred against a backdrop of broader disproportionality in minority ethnic groups interactions with the police: 2022 figures show that Black people are 6.2 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people. Troublingly, a report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services on the disproportionate use of police powers confirmed that ‘no force can satisfactorily explain why’ this disproportionate treatment of minority ethnic groups exists.

Despite the criticisms levelled at stop and search by the findings of the report, a majority of adults supported the right of the police to utilise stop and search powers in particular situations, such as where the police suspect someone has a weapon or Class A drugs on them.

As reported by the Guardian, Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, said that ‘the disproportionate targeting of the black community is having a traumatic and humiliating impact’. He recommends that ‘the style and tone of stop and searches needs to be changed as four out of five people stopped have committed no crime’ while existing initiatives designed to address proportionality ‘have not worked’.