100 signatures reached
To: Avon & Somerset Police
Bristol says NO to Section 60
Section 60 gives police the power to stop and search people without any suspicion that they have committed a crime. Time and time again, police force's use of it has proved it's a racist and ineffective tool that does not make streets safer.
In Bristol, Avon and Somerset Police enacted Section 60 in the aftermath of a fatal stabbing in February. They said it was done with the community’s consent, and that it would be a deterrent against knife crime.
In Bristol, Avon and Somerset Police enacted Section 60 in the aftermath of a fatal stabbing in February. They said it was done with the community’s consent, and that it would be a deterrent against knife crime.
But they found no knives, disproportionately targeted people of colour, and searched innocent children as young as ten. Their narrative of consent and deterrent is misleading, this investigation by the Bristol Cable shows.
They used Section 60 again, in June. This operation produced the same results: disproportionality – this time everyone stopped was Black or Asian – and no weapons.
Avon and Somerset Police chief constable, Sarah Crew, has admitted that her force is institutionally racist and has committed to reforming how her officers use stop and search as part of an anti-racism plan.
Avon and Somerset Police chief constable, Sarah Crew, has admitted that her force is institutionally racist and has committed to reforming how her officers use stop and search as part of an anti-racism plan.
How meaningful can these reforms really be, though, if the force continues to use this ineffective tool that leads to racial profiling and traumatising innocent children.
Use of the power is an operational choice, and we demand that Sarah Crew commits to not using it again. Sign this petition and say No To Section 60.
Our demands of the police:
- Avon and Somerset Police should commit to not using Section 60 again, based on the longstanding evidence that it’s a harmful, ineffective power.
- The police should review the ‘consultation’ officers had with the community before and after its use.
- The force should acknowledge that it did not have direct consent from communities for running the operation.
Why is this important?
Section 60 is a racist power
Official statistics show that Section 60 powers are used disproportionately against Black people. A Black person is 8.7 times more likely to be stopped than a white person during a suspicionless search operation.
It's ineffective
Nationally, in the year ending March 2023, 5% of Section 60 searches resulted in an arrest, up from 3% the previous year. And in roughly 71% of stop and searches, the outcome was recorded as needing ‘no further action’, similar to in recent years.
Official statistics show that Section 60 powers are used disproportionately against Black people. A Black person is 8.7 times more likely to be stopped than a white person during a suspicionless search operation.
It's ineffective
Nationally, in the year ending March 2023, 5% of Section 60 searches resulted in an arrest, up from 3% the previous year. And in roughly 71% of stop and searches, the outcome was recorded as needing ‘no further action’, similar to in recent years.
An investigation into a police Section 60 operation in February by The Bristol Cable, which you can read here, found that:
- Officers stopped and searched innocent children, at least one on his way home from school. He says he felt he was only stopped because he’s Black.
- We spoke to a youth worker who supported the child who was stopped. The boy had been a victim of knife violence himself a month earlier, and this damaged his trust in policing, feeling that officers were out to get him, not protect him.
- The police can offer no evidence that the suspicionless stop and search operation was a successful deterrent against knife violence.
- Campaigners say the retort from police forces that Section 60 is used to protect Black communities from knife crime is shown time and time again to be a lie. Police have no metric to prove the operation’s deterrent-effect.
- The police narrative that the operation was carried out with the consent of the community it impacted is misleading.
- Community members have said the police communication at community meetings about the Section 60 operation, both before and after it was enacted, was dishonest.
- The damage the operation did has contributed to the mistrust in policing in the areas it was used, undermining its anti-racism plan.
- Campaigners say Section 60 is a racist power that amounts to human rights abuses – namely racial profiling and traumatising children.
- How meaningful can the force’s anti-racism reforms be, if it continues to use repressive tactics under Section 60?
