What happens when the system that should protect you becomes the one you fear?
For too many young people of colour in the UK, policing feels like punishment before proof. Whether in Manchester, Birmingham or London, patterns of racial profiling continue to erode trust between the police and the communities they serve.
The data tells a painful story:
According to the UK Government’s “Inclusive Britain” update (May 2024), people from a Black ethnic group were stopped and searched at a rate 4.1 times higher than White people (year ending March 2023).
The “Stop and Search – Ethnicity Facts & Figures” dataset also confirms over-representation of ethnic minorities in stop & search statistics.
These disproportionalities are symptomatic of deeper trust issues between communities and policing institutions.
The cost to the Police and Public Trust:
Such disproportionality carries two major costs:
(1) financial and operational burden on policing — and
(2) erosion of public trust, which undermines community cooperation, crime-reporting and legitimacy.
📄 Read more:
- Stop and Search – Ethnicity Facts & Figures
- Inclusive Britain Update Report, May 2024
- Racial disparity in stop and search – legal-update blog
Solutions:
- Transparent data dashboards on stop & search, updated monthly, by every police force.
- Independent community scrutiny panels with genuine decision-making power and base in the local area.
- Mandatory anti-racism standards in police training and promotion pathways, with lived-experience input.
Call to Action:
Accountability must replace apology.
📢 If you or your child have been unfairly targeted, document it, report it, connect with community and equality organisations fighting for systemic change.