Gone fishing: The operation of police vehicle stops in England and Wales

Pearson, Geoff and Rowe, Mike ORCID: 0000-0002-2978-5222 (2023) Gone fishing: The operation of police vehicle stops in England and Wales. CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE. p. 174889582311552.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17488958231155275

Abstract

<jats:p> This article analyses the operation of police vehicle stop checks in England and Wales. In contrast to other common police powers, vehicle checks are remarkably under-regulated and have received little academic attention, but they are regularly used coercive powers supported by criminal sanction. Based upon a 6-year ethnographic study, including observations of 205 vehicle stops, this article sets out how stop checks are used as part of routine policing. We consider their effectiveness in reducing crime and assess their link to stop and search. Our data cast doubt on the effectiveness of self-generated vehicle stop checks for identifying crime and indicate that they may play a role in driving racial disproportionality in stop and search. We conclude that stop checks should be recorded by officers, which will improve the accountability of the power and could provide important data for uncovering the reasons for racial disproportionality in the use of stop and search. </jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Disproportionality, police discretion, policing, stop and search, traffic policing, vehicle stops
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Apr 2023 15:19
Last Modified:	21 Apr 2023 11:01
DOI:	10.1177/17488958231155275
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958231155275
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3169769