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Stop and search presentation to the community

Central Police Station – 10 June 2014 A presentation was given at a community meeting on 10 June 2014. Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Simon Torr welcomed everyone to the meeting. The following points would be discussed:  Outlining what we think the task is …..  What have we done so far?  Where we are aiming to go, is this right?  Data presentation – the ‘dashboard’  Developing scrutiny Stop and search is a tactical intervention to prevent and reduce crime. It is a suspicion based power, which means an officer does not have to believe that they will find something when conducting the search only that they suspect they will find something. A document was circulated at the meeting ‘Stop and search – What are lawful grounds?’ Concern was raised about Stop and Account and the impact that this has on community confidence. Community members believed that this is a huge grey area and that all Stop and Account conversations should be recorded. Supt Paul Burrows explained that the Home Secretary does not want Stop and Account recording, due to the significant bureaucratic burden that this would place upon the

• police. He also highlighted that unlike stop and search, there is no legal

requirement to record these encounters. It is believed that Stop and Account can cause confusion and create further gaps between the community and police. The view was expressed that officers should make it clear whether it is a stop and search encounter or a Stop and Account that is being carried out. Supt Burrows stated Nottinghamshire Police does not set targets for conducting stop and searches. The only thing the Force does require is that every stop and search record is reviewed and monitored by a supervisor. ACC Torr stated that the Force is investing money into the mapping of stop and search to enable the community to see both where these powers are being used and to ensure officers are being tasked through our intelligence-based briefing systems into undertaking searches in the hotspot areas, in areas where crimes like burglary and robbery are occurring.

ACC Torr identified that searches are being increasingly tasked into reducing

• ffences of burglary, robbery and theft of mobile phones and shop theft and that

the use of stop and search powers is one of the few on the street tools that officers have to address criminal behaviour, short of arrest. Officers in Nottinghamshire are using these powers effectively, with any searches resulting in the discovery of weapons, class A drugs, items that could be used to cause harm to people as well as items that can be used to commit burglaries, which reflects the need for searches take place to keep people safe. Officers need to ensure these powers are used correctly, while treating those they search with dignity and respect. This has been a focus of our training and audits – particularly around recording the grounds for stop and search. A discussion took place on the selection of a scrutiny panel. The Force does not wish to do a selection process to identify a scrutiny panel but wants an open, independent and flexible approach – the aim is that scrutiny is not controlled by the police but that the police are held to account by independent community members. Several questions were raised throughout the presentation: 1. Will Nottinghamshire Police sign up to the Pledge? (‘The Best Use of stop and search’ scheme) Yes Nottinghamshire Police will be signing up. However, the scheme has yet to be written. Indeed as soon as the Home Secretary had finished speaking the Force made contact to establish how it could sign up. 2. If a stop and search incident is not recorded at the scene, can it be recorded at a later date? Yes, the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Codes of Practice do specifically allow this, though it should not happen routinely. When this happens, an officer is required to pinpoint the location where the stop and search happened using the GPS mapping system on the BlackBerry hand- held devices used to record these encounters. 3. Does the location come up automatically when entering a record? Yes it can, but unfortunately the GPS system does not always work and therefore it sometimes has to be entered manually. 4. Why does the Force use BlackBerry? BlackBerry devices were Government funded. The Force is looking to move away from BlackBerry devices next year as this equipment becomes out of date. 5. Does the Force training include role playing/role reversal?

Not at this point, however ACC Torr and Supt Burrows have spoken with an existing training provider and this is something that is being looking into. We will take advice from the community prior to any move into this type of

• training. Catch 22 were used to provide the views of young people who had

been stopped and searched during Phase 2 of our training programme. These views were used to challenge officers on how stop and search was seen within our communities. 6. Can officers make it clearer when stopping people that it is a Stop and Account? This can be included in training. The Force is currently running Behavioural Detection Training for all officers. Supt Burrows is opening each of these sessions to continue to present and raise issues over the use of stop and search. 7. Why can’t Stop and Account be stopped? Neither the Home Secretary nor the Chief Constable Chris Eyre, believes there is advantage in recording the many thousands of conversations that would come under category of Stop and Account. There is no legal requirement to record these encounters and if they were recorded, a conversation lasting seconds would take minutes of paperwork to capture the required data. When a stop and search is conducted there is no legal requirement for a person to provide personal details. This would also be the case for Stop and Account. 8. Why the recent gun amnesty? ACC Torr explained that the recent gun amnesty was the second one that has been held in the last 10 years. Most weapons that were handed in were

• ld and belonged to older relatives etc. It is important that these weapons

are recovered to prevent them getting into the wrong hands. The gun amnesty was just one part of the Force’s Alliance Against Violence campaign, which encourages people to take a stand against violence. 9. In order to embrace a wider proportion of the community, can future meetings be held out in the community rather than at the police station? Yes, future meetings can and will be held in the community.