Police searches of young black men to be reviewed

Black people are four times more likely to be stopped in the West Midlands than white people

Recordings of young black men being searched by police are all expected to be reviewed by a supervisor in a new initiative.

Latest figures reveal West Midlands Police carried out 27,061 searches between April 2021 and March 2022.

This marked an increase on the previous year and the figures show officers are still more likely to stop black and Asian people.

The decision to review stop and search footage aims to help to tackle the disproportionality.

PCC Simon Foster said more needed to be done to end the disproportionate impact on black and Asian communities

The initiative was discussed at a Strategic Policing and Crime Board meeting on Tuesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster welcomed the decision, but said officers needed to do more to limit the impact on black and Asian communities.

"I am disappointed to see that, despite the work West Midlands Police has been carrying out as part of the Fairness and Belonging Strategy, disproportionality has deteriorated, rather than improved," he said.

Figures show Asian people were 2.9 times more likely to be stopped than white people and black people 4.4 times more likely. This is up from 2.6 and 3.9 in the previous year.

“I will be working with West Midlands Police to identify what action needs to be taken to remedy this as a matter of urgency," Mr Foster said. 

The force said more than 95% of stop and searches were recorded on body-worn cameras. It is also exploring the possibility of enabling people to view recordings of their own searches.