Summary of Report

This super-complaint was investigated jointly by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police (IOPC).

HMICFRS grouped the super-complaint into seven investigative themes; these were the chapter headings for the report:

• The experience of people searched under section 60 powers.
• Training officers on section 60.
• Authorising, recording, and evaluating the effectiveness of section 60.
• Conducting section 60 searches.
• Communicating information about section 60 authorisations and managing their impact.
• Data and analysing the use of section 60.
• Independent scrutiny of all stop and search powers.

 

The methodology for this super-complaint consisted of:

• Reviews of section 60 policy and community scrutiny policy throughout 11 forces;
• Interviews with over 150 police officers and staff throughout 14 forces;
• Reviews of 51 body-worn video recordings of section 60 searches made between 2019 and 2022 from the Phase 1 forces;
• Reviews of 27 section 60 authorisations from 4 forces;
• An assessment of individual force and police service-wide (England and Wales) data on section 60 stop and search encounters;
• A survey sent to all police forces in England and Wales about their local practices and procedures on section 60 and community scrutiny. The survey took place between 13 April 2022 and 18 May 2022 and determined where HMICFRS were to undertake fieldwork and visits.;
• Interviews with 35 stakeholders, including academics, about their knowledge and experience of section 60;
• A roundtable online conference with representatives from a range of community, charity and organisations;
• Interviews with community scrutiny panel chairs and/or members from 12 forces;
• Attending four community scrutiny panel meetings;
• A review of academic literature on the impact of stop and search powers on crime and public confidence; and
• A review of nine IOPC cases relating to section 60.

The fieldwork took place in two phases: phase one consisted of fieldwork within Essex Police, Merseyside Police, Metropolitan Police Service and West Midlands Police, these were high users of section 60 in recent years. Phase two involved HMICFRS visiting seven forces who were chosen based on their section 60 practices, and independent stop and search scrutiny processes. These were Avon and Somerset Police, Bedfordshire Police, Dorset Police, Durham Constabulary, Northamptonshire Police, Suffolk Constabulary and West Yorkshire Police.

 

The following are the main findings from the report:

• Forces were using section 60 authorisations to address serious violence and senior leaders generally understood the need to use it legitimately, proportionately and where necessary.
• There was strong commitment to independent scrutiny of stop and search through community scrutiny panels.
• More should be done to ensure the police follow law and guidance to minimize harms when powers are used. There were examples of evidence where this was not the case. There were also concerns from stakeholders of how stop and search powers can negatively affect communities. Forces must be able to adapt their section 60 training requirements to reflect how much they use the power. The content and quality of training varied between forces.
• There were differences across forces in the recording and format of section 60 authorisations.
• The impact on crime at a local level is not known or understood as few forces consider the overall effect of section 60 on their crime levels.
• The quality of police briefings regarding the use of and recording of section 60 varied across forces, in addition, there were also inconsistencies in how section 60 was communicated to the public and different approaches to the use of community impact assessments. There was also evidence of inconsistent safeguarding and risk assessment approaches for children who were stopped and searched.
• HMICFRS found examples of forces undertaking work to understand and manage disproportionality, however, it was noted this is not taken as a serious enough matter.
• All forces operate and support a community scrutiny panel for stop and search, and they receive support from forces and local policing bodies, yet HMICFRS found no good evidence forces made full use of the feedback provided by panels and some members received no training. Panels were consulted on retrospectively to scrutinise and provide feedback section 60 authorisation. There was also little evidence that panels review individual stop and search incidences issued under a section 60 deployment.

The report identified seven recommendations for Greater Manchester Police (GMP). The Force has assessed its position against this and details of the action to address the areas for improvement are set out below.

 

Recommendation 1

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure their forces review the content of training on section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and how they provide it.

The review should consider current national police curriculum requirements and the adequacy of force training for:

• officers who may be required to authorise section 60s; and
• officers who may be required to conduct section 60 stop and searches.

The review and any associated actions should be proportionate to each force’s use of section 60.

GMP response

The current College of Policing (CoP) national curriculum sets out structured stop and search training for practitioners and supervisors. This involves two days training for practitioners and an additional day for supervisors. Section 60 is included in both practitioner and supervisor training. In addition to the classroom-based training, officers are required to complete seven CoP e-learning packages. CoP recommends refresher training each 2 years on stop and search.

When the restrictions on Section 60 introduced in 2014 under the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme (BUSSS) were fully removed by the Government in May 2022, GMP made a significant investment in upskilling authorising officers and revising Section 60 policy and processes. The authorisation form was redesigned, including guidance notes and prompts to support those considering activating the power. Online training sessions were delivered in July 2022 to over 100 authorising officers, and a further 80 in April/May 2023. A training PowerPoint to support those sessions is available 24/7 on GMP’s intranet site as reference material. Further training sessions were planned for late 2023, however, these were paused to reflect on the super complaint report. These sessions will be delivered in early 2024.

GMP’s force lead reviewed student officer training on stop and search in early 2023 and made several recommendations around content and consistency of approach across different student entry routes. Updates on Section 60 have also been included recently on training for new sergeants and inspectors.

As a result of the Section 60 super complaint recommendation 1, GMP’s People and Development Branch will be tasked to re-review the stop search training position and, specifically for Section 60, against the national curriculum.

GMP’s Prevention Branch, who own the stop search portfolio, have recently been tasked with re-reviewing the seven CoP e-learning packages on stop and search.

It is noted that the report Action 1 requires the CoP to update the stop search national policing curriculum in relation to Section 60 and other key stop search areas. Timescales on this remain unclear.

 

Recommendation 2

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure briefing and debriefing arrangements for their force’s activities under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are thorough and in line with Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code A and authorised professional practice content and guidance.

Chief constables must make sure section 60 authorisation briefings are recorded. This may be as a written briefing. But formal verbal section 60 authorisation briefings should be given on audio-visual devices such as body-worn video or approved handheld communication devices. They should be capable of being recorded as part of the policing operation and be subject to scrutiny. Section 60 briefings to officers who are required to use their stop and search powers should include information on:

• the relevant law and guidance;
• the particular grounds for authorising the use of section 60 stop and search powers;
• all relevant and current information and intelligence;
• the geographical area covered, and time limitations authorised;
• all relevant community information (including policing history) and any community impact assessment;
• how any debriefing and force learning will be conducted; and
• the importance of recording all section 60 stop and search encounters on body-worn video in their entirety.

GMP response

Current GMP guidance to authorising officers on Section 60 briefing includes the following:

• Authorising officers should ensure that staff are appropriately briefed on the S60, especially the intelligence which sits behind it, and the groups that activity should be focussed on, which helps avoid inappropriate ‘blanket use’. 
• Authorising officers should actively consider which groups should be focussed upon and include in their rationale and briefings. 

In response to Recommendation 2, GMP will introduce a briefing template (PowerPoint) that authorising officers can complete to cover the elements set out above. Where authorisations are very spontaneous and the preparation of a written briefing may be delayed, authorising officers will be directed to record briefings on audio-visual devices.

 

Recommendation 3

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure all officers who may exercise stop and search powers understand, and comply with, their responsibility to safeguard children who are stopped and searched.

In doing so, chief constables should make sure that:

• in line with the national policing curriculum, officers undertaking searches are appropriately trained to take the necessary steps to minimise any emotional harm that may be caused through these encounters;
• their force has processes in place to assist appropriate safeguarding referrals when children are stopped and searched; and
• there is robust checking and assessment of all such searches that takes account of the safety and welfare needs of the child.

GMP response

GMP is committed to child centre policing (CCP) in general, and a delivery plan for CCP in relation to stop and search has been in place since April 2023.

GMP’s stop and search policy has been recently refreshed, with specific considerations around children and young people (CYP) including:

• Requirement for officers to ensure necessary safeguarding is put in place when CYP are stop searched
• Officers to take a trauma-focussed approach, understanding the negative impact that stop and search can have on CYP
• Setting out CoP Authorised Professional Practice (APP) considerations that identify specific causes for concern for CYP and stop and search
• Active consideration of submitting safeguarding referrals (Care Plan) for CYP following stop and search
• Specific consideration around those under 10 years
• Active consideration of parent/carer contact during a stop and search encounter

GMP’s Records Management System automatically creates a task for the officer in the case for all stop and search records for CYP to consider external (safeguarding) referrals.

GMP’s Force lead for stop and search, in conjunction with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) lead for CCP, has recently established a Task and Finish group to specifically look at the issues of parent/carer contact and safeguarding referrals in relation to stop and search involving CYP. This group met for a second time in January 2024.

All stop and searches of children under 10 are subject to detailed review by GMP’s deputy Force lead on stop search. Specific attention is paid to communication, parent/carer contact and safeguarding, including referrals.

Monthly dip-sampling of stop search records in undertaken by senior leaders on each GMP district, with stop searches of CYP included each month. Reviewers are specifically asked to assess safeguarding and other CCP issues.

Under it’s broader CCP work, GMP has commissioned further academic research on engagement with CYP during encounters, including stop and search. This will inform a range of considerations, including training.

 

Recommendation 4

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure forces effectively communicate with communities and interested parties on the police use of section 60 stop and search powers.

This should include:

• making sure communications reach the communities most likely to be affected by the section 60 authorisation and checking their communication strategies were effective;
• publicising details to inform the public, give reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect; and
• reporting back to communities and interested parties on operational outcomes.

 

GMP response

Although the requirement to formally consult with communities when Section 60s are authorised was removed when the BUSSS restrictions were removed by the Government in 2022, GMP retained this as good practice. The guidance for authorising officers includes the following:

• Although no longer a formal requirement to consult communities, authorising officers should consider disproportionality in terms of impact on particular groups (age, ethnicity, communities, etc.) This may require the authorising officer to proactively undertake community engagement, press work and/or contact with particular stakeholders.
• It is left to individual districts to determine what that communication should look like for each event, but it typically involves a combination of GMP social media and press release, district Independent Advisory Group (IAG), district Independent Community Scrutiny Panel (ICSP), local councillors and local authority community safety leads.

More work needs to be done by GMP in getting communication to young people who are disproportionately affected by Section 60 activity and, strengthening reporting back to communities and stakeholders on operational outcomes. Some GMP Districts (e.g., Tameside and Oldham) take Section 60 detail back through their ICSPs, but others less so.

 

Recommendation 5

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force gives community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) all relevant information to help them scrutinise police stop and searches and other police actions arising from section 60 authorisations.

This should include:

• the grounds and underlying reasons for the authorisations;
• any recordings of briefings;
• written records of searches;
• information about the outcomes of searches; and
• body-worn video footage of entire encounters. In addition, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force incorporates feedback from community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) when evaluating and improving the force’s use of section 60.

GMP response

All GMP Districts have well-established ICSPs. There are slight variations between how each panel works, but GMP’s Prevention Branch, who lead on ICSPs, are working through a delivery plan following ICSP review in mid-2023. ICSPs are all reviewing stop and search and should also be reviewing use of force encounters. Vehicle stops should also fall within ICSP scrutiny later this year.

Some, but not all GMP Section 60s are taken to ICSPs for review, and this is an area the Force needs to address this year. The Force lead for stop and search will discuss this recommendation with the Prevention Branch senior leadership to agree next steps.

 

Recommendation 6

By 14 June 2024, chief constables and where applicable police and crime commissioners (or equivalents) should make sure their forces work in partnership with community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) to:

• review panel membership and vetting arrangements to remove any unnecessary barriers to recruiting panel members;
• promote the recruitment of culturally diverse members, with a particular focus on representing, involving and retaining those from under-represented communities and young people;
• promote the representation, involvement and, retention of those who have been stopped and searched;
• make sure the force gives community scrutiny panels information on the police use of force, including handcuffing, relevant to the police use of stop and search powers;
• make sure they support and help community scrutiny panels to review section 60 authorisations, searches, community impact assessments and associated complaints;
• give members appropriate training and support to help them effectively carry out their role scrutinising all stop and searches, taking account of the effect the role could have on them; and provide the right level of police representation at panel meetings to support and advise as required, and to make sure the panel’s feedback helps to improve both individual officer and organisational learning.

GMP response

GMP’s Prevention Branch who lead on ICSPs are working through a delivery plan following ICSP review in mid-2023. The work includes membership representation, diversity, training and support.

Some, but not all GMP Section 60s are taken to ICSPs for review, and this is an area the force needs to address this year. The Force lead for stop and search will discuss this recommendation with the Prevention Branch senior leadership to agree next steps.

 

Recommendation 7

Within 56 days of the publication date of this report, the National Police Chiefs Council, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the Home Office should inform His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the College of Policing how they intend to respond to the recommendations.

Within 56 days of the publication date of this report, forces should publish on their websites an explanation of how they have responded or will respond to the recommendations. Forces should send the National Police Chiefs’ Council links to where this information can be found.

GMP response

The answers to the recommendations GMP have been issued, have been addressed and outlined through this report.