§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of stops under section 23(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the resultant arrests for drug offences in each police authority area in the last 10 years.
§ Mr. HurdThe available information relates to the years 1975 to 1983 and is given in the following table. Information on arrests for drug offences as a result of these stops and searches is not collected centrally.
395W
Persons stopped and searched under section 23(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, by police force area. England and Wales—Number of persons Police force 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 Avon and Somerset 633 469 613 1,441 609 746 462 1,205 1,158 Bedfordshire 106 38 75 41 51 30 42 28 110 Cambridgeshire 573 707 831 688 636 467 398 613 322 Cheshire 501 213 262 227 238 264 216 239 190 Cleveland 81 115 125 84 106 187 90 60 34 Cumbria 402 398 391 380 420 447 467 525 390 Derbyshire 90 112 137 240 295 319 229 369 259 Devon and Cornwall 477 357 434 445 290 245 308 736 1394 Dorset 407 339 265 331 306 255 223 430 514 Durham 73 97 74 88 132 147 154 215 202 Essex 97 122 87 121 57 63 106 169 94 Gloucestershire 173 127 140 272 297 253 324 294 399 Greater Manchester 581 683 960 1,902 1,608 1,769 1,904 1,799 1,343 Hampshire 715 464 382 409 348 313 249 345 647 Hertfordshire 344 482 609 484 532 923 731 853 792 Humberside 344 407 196 206 214 195 138 141 171 Kent 906 1,008 1,088 984 937 853 852 759 788 Lancashire 338 257 374 285 516 171 299 217 181 Leicestershire 88 167 528 624 805 489 533 580 416 Lincolnshire 80 87 348 390 373 367 361 315 387 London, City of 74 88 118 57 83 188 96 127 99 Merseyside 121 145 205 347 196 316 260 923 1,857 Metropolitan Police District* 5,259 7,413 5,818 6,412 6,599 9,395 10,512 12,471 16,576 Norfolk 141 59 88 163 165 94 112 86 825 Northamptonshire 215 165 220 150 153 266 213 131 72 Northumbria 437 450 160 97 89 165 127 140 155 North Yorkshire 138 153 404 106 85 89 110 73 72 Nottinghamshire 102 110 106 128 123 182 323 216 135 South Yorkshire 322 315 550 353 336 294 412 313 133 Staffordshire 82 123 240 162 229 138 181 116 240 Suffolk 200 266 338 298 388 471 599 494 379 Surrey 684 477 670 696 633 424 1,181 614 1,053 Sussex 1,342 1,352 918 1,429 844 1,096 1,179 1,369 1,660 Thames Valley 277 207 474 254 292 300 320 221 169 Warwickshire 136 169 137 95 132 109 70 95 120 West Mercia 575 945 1,283 1,017 1,455 2,038 1,725 502 607 West Midlands 351 327 222 211 138 222 268 262 314 West Yorkshire 522 451 328 230 172 235 213 248 303 Wiltshire 334 1,328 582 1,607 1,588 769 519 781 709 Dyfed-Powys 170 301 132 100 271 728 168 180 194 Gwent 250 221 259 294 316 399 346 461 340 North Wales 111 73 101 261 288 842 677 204 286 South Wales 506 485 396 410 357 460 501 564 597 Total 19,358 22,272 21,668 24,519 23,702 27,723 28,198 30,483 36,686 * These figures are based on information recorded in station registers for operational purposes and as this form of recording is unsuitable for the preparation of statistical summaries, the resultant figures may be subject to some error.