Police stop and search monitoring.

Police Stop and Search: Your Rights and Vehicle Searches

Police stop-and-search powers allow officers to detain and search a person or vehicle without first making an arrest. These powers can help officers find weapons, drugs, stolen property and other prohibited articles, but they must be exercised lawfully, fairly and proportionately.

A person does not have to be suspected of committing an offence before every type of stop and search. However, most searches require reasonable grounds for suspicion, while a smaller number of statutory powers permit searches without individual suspicion where a senior officer has given the necessary authorisation.

When Can the Police Stop and Search Someone?

Under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, an officer may stop and search a person or vehicle where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they will find items such as:

• Stolen property
• Controlled drugs
• Offensive weapons
• Bladed or sharply pointed articles
• Fireworks carried unlawfully
• Items intended for use in theft, burglary, fraud or criminal damage
• Certain articles connected with public-order offences

The officer's suspicion must be based on objective facts, information or behaviour. A person's race, age, appearance or previous convictions cannot, by themselves, provide reasonable grounds for a search.

What Are Reasonable Grounds?

Reasonable grounds may arise from reliable intelligence, something the officer has seen or heard, the person's conduct or a combination of relevant circumstances.

The officer should be able to explain:

• What they are looking for
• The facts giving rise to suspicion
• Why those facts relate to the person or vehicle being searched

Being present in an area with a high crime rate is not usually enough on its own. Clothing, nervousness or association with another person should not be treated as automatic proof that a search is justified.

Searches Without Individual Suspicion

Some powers allow officers to stop and search without reasonable grounds to suspect a particular person.

For example, section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 can authorise searches within a specified area and time where serious violence is anticipated, or weapons are believed to be carried.

Separate powers exist under terrorism legislation. The officer should explain which power is being used and the reason the relevant authorisation applies.

Can the Police Search a Vehicle?

Yes. Stop-and-search powers can apply to a motor vehicle, its driver, passengers and items carried in or on the vehicle.

An officer may search areas where the suspected item could reasonably be found. A search for a large weapon may justify examination of the boot. In contrast, a search for a small quantity of drugs could extend to smaller compartments.

The search should not be wider or more intrusive than is reasonably necessary for its lawful purpose.

Stopping a Vehicle Under Road Traffic Powers

A uniformed police officer can require a motorist to stop under road traffic legislation. Failing to stop when lawfully required is an offence.

The power to stop a vehicle is separate from the power to search it. The fact that an officer can require a driver to stop does not automatically provide authority to search the vehicle.

The officer must rely on a relevant search power or obtain the person's genuine consent. However, officers should not suggest that a person has no choice where consent is being requested rather than a statutory power being exercised.

What Must the Officer Explain?

Before searching, the officer should normally provide:

• Their name or identification number
• The police station to which they are attached
• The legal power being used
• The object of the search
• The grounds for the search, where suspicion is required
• Information about the right to obtain a copy of the search record

This is sometimes remembered through the acronym GOWISELY, covering the grounds, object, warrant card where appropriate, officer identity, station, entitlement to a record, legal power and confirmation that the person is detained for a search.

Does the Officer Have to Be in Uniform?

An officer does not always have to be in uniform to search a person. However, an officer who is not in uniform should normally show their warrant card before searching.

Some powers concerning vehicles or searches without individual suspicion require the officer exercising the power to be in uniform.

Must a Stop and Search Be Recorded?

Police must generally make an electronic or paper record of a completed stop and search unless exceptional circumstances make recording it wholly impracticable.

The record should normally include:

• The date, time and location
• The legal power used
• The object of the search
• The grounds for suspicion, where required
• The outcome of the search
• Whether anything was found or seized
• The officer's identity
• The person's self-defined ethnicity, if provided
• The ethnicity perceived by the officer

The person searched is not required to provide their name, address or date of birth merely for the search record, unless another legal power requires that information.

Recording Vehicle Searches

A vehicle search must also normally be recorded.

Where both a driver and their vehicle are searched on the same grounds, one record may be sufficient. Where only the vehicle is searched, the record should include relevant details about the vehicle and the person in charge, including ethnicity information where provided.

If an unattended vehicle is searched, the police should leave a notice recording that the search took place and explaining how the owner can obtain further information.

Can the Person Obtain a Copy?

The person searched, or the person in charge of a searched vehicle, should be given a receipt or told how to obtain a copy of the search record.

If it is not practicable to provide the record immediately, it can usually be requested from the relevant police force within three months.

A copy can be useful where the person wishes to challenge the legality or conduct of the search.

Does a Person Have to Cooperate?

A person must allow a lawful search to take place. Physically obstructing an officer may lead to arrest or prosecution.

However, the person can calmly ask:

• Why they are being searched
• What the officer is looking for
• Which legal power is being used
• Whether they are free to leave
• How to obtain the search record

Questioning the basis of a search does not in itself amount to obstruction, provided the person does not prevent or seriously delay the lawful exercise of the power.

Can the Police Use Force?

An officer may use reasonable force where necessary to carry out a lawful search.

The level of force must be proportionate to the circumstances. Handcuffs should not be used automatically merely because a search is taking place.

Unnecessary or excessive force may result in a complaint, misconduct proceedings or a civil claim.

Removing Clothing in Public

During an ordinary stop and search in public, an officer may normally require the removal of outer clothing such as a coat, jacket or gloves.

An officer may also require the removal of headgear or footwear where permitted by the relevant power. Religious or cultural sensitivities should be handled respectfully, and removal of religious headwear should normally take place away from public view where practicable.

A more extensive search involving the removal of clothing exposing intimate parts of the body must not be conducted in public or inside a police vehicle.

Strip Searches

A strip search is substantially more intrusive than an ordinary stop and search and must be necessary and proportionate.

It should normally be conducted at a police station or another suitable private location, by officers of the same sex as the person searched. The person should not normally be required to remove all clothing at once.

The police should record the justification, location, officers present and outcome of the search.

Strip Searches of Children

A child should only be strip searched where it is necessary and proportionate, with the child's Welfare treated as a primary consideration.

An appropriate adult should normally be present unless the child specifically requests otherwise and the relevant legal conditions are satisfied.

Safeguarding concerns should be considered, particularly where a search takes place outside a police station or involves possible exploitation, trafficking or pressure from adults.

Intimate Searches

An intimate search involves the physical examination of a person's body orifices other than the mouth. It is different from a strip search and is subject to stricter legal safeguards.

It cannot ordinarily be carried out using routine street stop-and-search powers. Specific authorisation, location and medical requirements apply.

Body-Worn Video

Officers commonly use body-worn video to record stop-and-search encounters.

The officer should normally tell the person that recording is taking place. The recording may provide important evidence about what was said, the grounds given and the way the search was conducted.

Body-worn video should not ordinarily record an intrusive search exposing intimate parts of the body.

Can a Member of the Public Record the Search?

There is no general law preventing Someone from filming police officers carrying out their duties in a public place.

Recording must not physically obstruct the search, interfere with evidence or create a genuine safety risk.

An officer should not require a recording to be deleted merely because it shows police activity. Separate powers may apply where a device itself contains evidence of an offence.

Disproportionality and Discrimination

Stop and search continues to raise concerns about disproportionality, particularly in relation to Black people and some other ethnic minority communities.

Police forces must monitor the use of their powers, record ethnicity information and examine whether searches are being used fairly and effectively.

A disproportionate rate does not by itself prove that an individual search was unlawful. However, vague grounds, stereotyping or decisions based on race rather than objective information may indicate discrimination or misuse of power.

What Happens If Nothing Is Found?

A lawful search does not become unlawful merely because nothing is found.

The relevant question is whether the officer had lawful grounds at the time the decision to search was made and whether the search was conducted properly.

A person should be allowed to leave once the search has been completed unless the officer has another lawful reason to detain or arrest them.

What Happens If an Item Is Found?

The police may seize an item where they reasonably believe it is evidence of an offence, stolen property or an article prohibited by law.

The person may be arrested, reported for an offence, given an out-of-court disposal or released while further enquiries are made.

Finding an item does not remove the requirement for the original search to have been lawful.

Can a Search Be Challenged?

A person may challenge a search where they believe:

• There were no reasonable grounds
• The officer failed to explain the legal basis
• The search exceeded what was permitted
• Excessive force was used
• The search was discriminatory
• The required record was not made
• An intrusive search was conducted improperly

Evidence may include the search record, body-worn video, private recordings, witness details, photographs and medical evidence of any injury.

Making a Police Complaint

A complaint can normally be made directly to the police force involved. It may be appropriate to identify the officer, date, time, location and search reference where known.

The complaint should explain what occurred, why the search is disputed and what outcome is requested.

Depending on the seriousness of the allegation, the matter may be handled by the police force or referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Compensation and Civil Claims

An unlawful stop and search may potentially lead to a civil claim involving false imprisonment, assault, discrimination, breach of human rights or misuse of personal information.

Compensation is not automatic simply because no prohibited item was found. The claimant would need to establish that the detention, search or force used was unlawful.

Strict time limits can apply, particularly to discrimination and human-rights claims.

Obtaining Legal Advice

A person arrested or invited to a police interview following a search should obtain advice from a criminal defence solicitor.

Someone wishing to challenge police conduct may need a solicitor experienced in civil actions against the police, discrimination or public law.

Records and video evidence should be requested promptly because retention periods may apply.

Important Information

Solicitors.com is not a firm of solicitors. This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Police powers and codes of practice may change, and their application will depend on the individual circumstances. You should seek advice from a suitably qualified solicitor before taking or refraining from action.