§ Lord Giffordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people were stopped and searched by police officers in the Tottenham area during each month of 1985; of what ethnic origin they were; and in how many cases the stop was followed by an arrest.
1063WA
§ Lord GlenarthurI understand from the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis that the readily available information is as given in the table below. Up to 1st April 1985, the information collected related to persons or vehicles recorded as stopped and information is not available on the number of occasions on which searches were carried out. From 1st April 1985, in preparation for the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the Metropolitan Police applied to the exercise of its existing powers the procedures in regard to the stopping and searching of persons and vehicles laid down in Part I of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and the associated Code of Practice. The information collected from that date, in line with Section 5 of the Act, therefore relates only to those occasions on which persons or vehicles were searched. These figures are therefore not comparable with those for earlier periods. Monthly figures for individual Metropolitan Police divisions are very variable and have therefore been aggregated to provide quarterly totals. Information on the ethnic appearance of those searched is not collected centrally.
Stops(1), Searches(1) and resultant arrests in Tottenham Police Division, 1985:
Number Stops Searches Resultant arrests 1st Quarter 867 .. 175 2nd Quarter .. 180 33 3rd Quarter .. 55 8 4th Quarter .. 83 10 .. not available. (1) The basis of recording changed on 1st April 1985.