More than half of black people stopped and searched by the police say they were left with feelings of humiliation or embarrassment, according to a survey.
It also shows levels of trust in the police are markedly lower among black people (46%) than white people (64%), with barely a third (35%) of black Caribbean people saying they had confidence.
Across all ethnicities, 49% of people who had been stopped and searched had significantly less trust in police, compared with 65% of those who had not.
Stop and search has long been a flashpoint in relations between police and minority ethnic communities, especially black people. The majority of stops do not find anything, and black people are seven times more likely to be targeted, with police chiefs unable to explain why.
Stop and search is supported as a power, but the survey of more than 5,000 people by the Crest thinktank found concerns across all races about how fairly police use it – and more so in communities of colour.
It found that black people are more worried about crime and less likely to feel protected by law enforcement.
One person told the survey: “There isn’t anybody I know that has never been stopped. And, well, we’ve never been in jail.”
Crest’s report says people of colour find the experience of coming under suspicion and being stopped more humiliating than white people.
Sixty-one per cent of black adults (58% of black African and 65% of black Caribbean adults) and 59% of mixed ethnicity adults (61% of white and black African and 57% of white and black Caribbean adults) found the experience humiliating and embarrassing (to some degree), compared with 49% of white adults, it said.
The survey findings will add to concerns that police face a crisis of legitimacy in Britain’s black communities, which has long been of concern to senior politicians.
Trust among black people in London is lower than the national average, at 42%. The Metropolitan police carry out nearly half of stops in England and Wales, at a far higher frequency than other force.
Andy George, the president of the National Black Police Association, said: “The disproportionate targeting of the black community is having a traumatic and humiliating impact. The style and tone of stop and searches needs to be changed as four out of five people stopped have committed no crime. Despite a number of initiatives designed to reduce disproportionality, we must accept these have not worked and this continues to be a problem.”
The campaigner Stafford Scott said stops were being conducted in an indiscriminate manner. “These statistics suggest that the searches are based on racist stereotypes rather than intelligent policing. The police have, through their institutionally racist practices, lost all credibility and legitimacy when it comes to black communities in the UK, particularly in London.”
