Stop and Search Community Scrutiny Panel Minutes - 6th January 2022

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Thursday 6th January 2022 via Skype.

Attendees

Panel Members: Kay Selwyn (Chair), Robin Agascar, John Sharrock, Anthony Saunders, Richard Townshend, Ruth Bonser

Police Officers and Staff: Grant White, Atira Burton, Annabel Staley

Apologies: Susan Taylor, Camella Cephas

Minutes: Annabel Staley

The Chair opened the meeting.

The panel decided to change the time of the meeting from 6pm – 8pm to 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

Action Updates (07.10.2021)

There was not an update on the actions from the previous meeting.

Action: Annabel Staley to ask Ash Shingler for an update and circulate the response to the panel.

Scrutiny of Stop Searches

The panel decided to look at Stop Searches conducted under S1 PACE Offensive Weapons between the 1st October 2021 to 6th January 2022.

130367

Date: November 2021
Time: 1800 – 1807
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: A member of the public had called the Police as they were approached by a group of kids stating that another kid wanted to fight them and that they were going to bring knives with them. Police arrived at the location given and a group of males matching the age groups were detained and searched.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action (NFA)
Panel Decision: GREEN

130338

Date: November 2021
Time: 1805 – 1815
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White – Any Other Background
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: A member of the public had called the Police as they were approached by a group of kids stating that another kid wanted to fight them and that they were going to bring knives with them. Police arrived in the location given and a group of males matching the age groups were detained and searched.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Decision: GREEN

130363

Date: November 2021
Time: 2305 – 0200
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian
Age: over 18
Location: A40
Reasonable Grounds: Incident reported by a Taxi driver who was taking the subject back towards his home address. During the journey, the subject made comments about wanting to kill people and was seen to have a knife strapped to his leg.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action – No knife located
Panel Discussion: The panel questioned why the search took so long.
Panel Decision: GREEN
Action: Grant White to gain clarity over the length of the search. Were the times reported incorrectly?

130357

Date: November 2021
Time: 0050 – 0055
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: over 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: Male was believed to be in possession of a knife and arguing in the street.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: The panel would like more details on this search. What led to the belief that he was in possession of a knife? There is currently limited information on why the search needed to take place.
Panel Decision: AMBER

130351

Date: November 2021
Time: 1630 – 1640
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: under 18
Location: Bourton-on-the-Water
Reasonable Grounds: A member of public flagged down a PCSO and stated that her daughter had just been chased by 5 youths with a knife. The youths were detained by the PCSO.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: The panel discussed the powers held by PCSOs. Grant White clarified that they can detain individuals but cannot search them. This search was completed by a PC.
Panel Decision: GREEN

130347

130348

130349

130350

130345

Date: November 2021
Time: 2010 – 2015
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: The male was identified by a staff member as an individual who was carrying a firearm / imitation firearm.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Decision: GREEN

130389

Date: November 2021
Time: 2005 – 2010
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: The male was identified by a staff member as an individual who was carrying a firearm / imitation firearm.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: It was highlighted that this officer has used the wrong legislation as there is specific legislation for firearms offences.
Panel Decision: GREEN

Action: Grant White to feedback to the officer that there is specific firearms legislation that they can search under.

130344

Date: November 2021
Time: 1619 – 1623
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: over 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: Reports of a male walking in possession of a knife and hammer. On arrival, the male was identified and detained to ascertain if he was in possession of any offensive weapons, in particular a knife or hammer.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Object Found: 3 kitchen knives and a hammer.
Outcome: Arrested
Panel Decision: GREEN

Action: Grant White to provide positive feedback to the officer. The reasonable grounds were well written and very detailed.

130337

Date: November 2021
Time: 1755 – 1820
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Mixed – White and Black Caribbean
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: Spontaneous incident reported by a dog walker, who overheard youths stating they were going to be involved in a fight with knives in the skate park.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Decision: GREEN

130378

Date: November 2021
Time: 1755 – 1820
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: under 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: Spontaneous incident reported by a dog walker, who overheard youths stating they were going to be involved in a fight with knives in the skate park.
Legislation: S1 PACE Offensive Weapons
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Decision: GREEN

130379

130335

130334

130556

Panel Discussion: The panel were concerned about the number of youths searched under this power and asked about interventions. Grant White clarified that the Police are closely linked in with schools and that it is likely that this would have been followed up with the parents of the young people. A panel member explained that first time offenders carrying knives receive 3 months custody. It is re-assuring that for most searches, nothing was found and that the Police are following up when these incidents are reported.

The panel decided to change to looking at searches carried out under S1 PACE Stolen Property.

137356

Date: November 2021
Time: 0512 – 2312
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Age: over 18
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: Seen by a witness inside a smashed up car that did not belong to him.
Legislation: S1 PACE Stolen Property
Object Found: Multi tool, a hammer, several car keys, car cleaning kit.
Outcome: Arrested
Panel Discussion: The grounds are not written clearly and do not contain enough information. The reader must read ‘between the lines’ to understand the situation.
Panel Decision: AMBER

Action: Grant White to clarify timings for this search.

130340

Date: 1November 2021
Time: 2300 – 2315
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Mixed – White and Asian
Age: under 18
Location: Newent
Reasonable Grounds: A member of the public reported males seen acting suspiciously ducking and hiding in garden sheds from a police helicopter which was looking for a missing person. On arrival, two males were seen hiding in a hedge and then continued to walk away after seeing police. Males were reluctant to provide any details. Due it being late at night, the incident reported to police and the males being reluctant to provide their full details, it was believed that they potentially had items from local sheds.
Legislation: S1 PACE Stolen Property
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: Grant White explained that further considerations for searching under this power may have been the demeanour of the males or there may have been a spate of garden shed break ins in that area.
Panel Decision: GREEN

130326

Date: 1November 2021
Time: 1435 – 1450
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Any Other White Background
Age: over 18
Location: Cirencester
Reasonable Grounds: Suspected Romanian pickpockets in the area. The male acknowledged that the Police had arrested a female that was in their car earlier, possibly linked to pick pocketing.
Legislation: S1 PACE Stolen Property
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: Grounds are not well written and only make sense after reading the below search form.
Panel Decision: GREEN

130325

Date: November 2021
Time: 1330 – 1350
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Any Other White Background
Age: over 18
Location: Cirencester
Reasonable Grounds: Female matched the description of individuals pick pocketing in the area and her story for being in Cirencester was suspicious.
Legislation: S1 PACE Stolen Property
Outcome: Arrested
Panel Decision: GREEN

130305

Date: November 2021
Time: 2000 – 2004
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Not Stated
Age: No Date of Birth
Location: Gloucester
Reasonable Grounds: The officer was travelling in a marked police van and stopped at a red light. A male rode past on a bicycle whilst using the phone. In cycling past, he noticed the van and looked at it repeatedly 5 or 6 times, clearly checking the direction the van was going to take at the lights. The male continued to check behind him to see if the officer was following him. The officer formed a suspicion that he was in possession of stolen or prohibited items.
Legislation: S1 PACE Stolen Property
Outcome: No Further Action
Panel Discussion: Although the panel agreed this behaviour may raise suspicions, they did not believe these were sufficient grounds to search the individual for stolen property. It would have been proportionate to stop the individual and advise him not to use the phone whilst on a bike but not to search him. The officer has not provided any details of the conversation with the male. The panel also questioned whether further consideration was given to the individual not giving an age or ethnicity.
Panel Decision: RED

Action: Grant White to follow this up with Ask Shingler to determine next steps.

The panel highlighted that the large number of youths involved in knives and gang activity was concerning. Furthermore, many individuals believe that this activity only happens in the city centre but it has been evident today that it is widely dispersed.

The panel asked for feedback on the Amber and Red searches at the next meeting.

The Chair and Grant White thanked everyone for their contributions.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 7th April 2022.

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