Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner of the City of London Police.

The Committee received a Report of the Commissioner concerning Stop and Search and the Use of Force.

The Chair reflected that it was good to see the City of London Police near the top in terms of positive statistics (38% positive outcomes) and welcomed officer’s comments on the need to avoid complacency.  

The Chair stressed that Stop and Search was a very sensitive area that had a big impact on the health of the relationship between the Police and local communities; she queried whether the 38% positive outcome rate could be improved upon.

Officers responded that they recognised and welcomed the high expectations for the City of London Police and would be working hard to drive the conversation rate up, however, it should be noted that the average conversion rate across UK forces was significantly lower, at 12 – 15%, so the Force was working from a position of strength.

Officers added that alongside the work to improve the conversion rate, the manner and conduct of stop and search was a key focus, when individuals were stopped and searched this needed to be done in a courteous and professional manner at all times, it was also reiterated that Stop and Search was driven by intelligence sourced from victims and witnesses of crime.

In response to a separate query, officers pointed out that those officers who had undertaken Project Servator training have a higher conversion rate when conducting stop and searches, it should be noted that, Servator requires significant training which isn’t, in its entirety, practical to roll out to the entire Force (n.b. some aspects of Servator are being embedded in training for new recruits). In addition, it should also be highlighted that Servator Police teams often have a longer run up time to pre-plan operations, whereas, other officers are often operating with the need to make split decisions, this does go some way to explaining the differential in conversion rates.

The Chair asked officers to see if they could capture and present the figures for individuals who had been routinely stopped and searched (with a negative outcome). Officers responded that they would take this away and report back to the next meeting of the Committee; they pointed out that whilst able to compare the internal CoLP records, the Force did not have access to the figures held by the Metropolitan Police, so a true picture for those being routinely stopped and searched by all Police forces may not always be completely accurate.

Finally, the Chair also noted the higher frequency of use of force than compared with the national average and pointed out that this is worthy of ongoing analysis.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report.