Black people in Sussex were more than eight times as likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people last year, new figures show. Home Office data on the rates of stop and searches by race found the equivalent of nearly 30 black people in every 1,000 living in the area were involved in the controversial operations in a 12-month period compared with three in every 1,000 white people. A human rights organisation has called the practice “traumatising and distressing”.
Sussex Police say stop and search powers “play an important role” in tackling crime but that they are “actively addressing” issues. New figures for the 12 months to March show that in Sussex 616 stop and search operations were carried out on black people – equivalent to 28.8 per 1,000 in the area.
In comparison, 3.4 per 1,000 white people were subjected to stop and search operations in the same period. Ruth Ehrlich, head of policy at campaign at human rights group Liberty, said: “Stop and search is traumatic and distressing – and something that black people are far more likely to experience.
Just because this disproportionality is not new does not mean we should fail to be appalled by it. “For years, previous governments have failed communities by stripping away the support that they need and used racist and violent policing tools to try and paper over the cracks. “We need the new government to take urgent action to reduce the use of stop and search and for greater investment to .