StopWatch

Working towards a world with safe and thriving communities, turning a spotlight on stop and search.

Formed in 2010 as a coalition of academics, lawyers, civil society representatives, and community stakeholders, StopWatch works to promote fair, effective, and accountable policing in England and Wales, with a primary focus on stop and search. We use our research into stop and search outcomes to act against disproportionality and injustice. This involves campaigning for evidence-based policies, ch

allenging police malpractice, and empowering overpoliced communities to find solutions for instances of harassment and abuse.

23/04/2026

The new report from the Children’s Commissioner into child strip search exposed disturbing, if not surprising, statistics.

Black children are more likely:
🟢 to be strip searched
🟢 to have force used during a strip search
🟢 to have force used against them due to "their size or build"

Responses to the report call for a "child-centred approach" but that is not enough. Children should be able to live their lives free from police, and any attempt to normalise police contact with children only fails them.

31/03/2026

📢 Our March 2026 newsletter is now live

In this edition, we cover:

🟢 the lack of progress on tackling violence against women and girls
🟢 fraud at the Police Federation
🟢 the failure of forces to address racism complaints against their officers
.. and much more

🔗 Link in bio to subscribe

27/03/2026

📣 Our bystanders guide is now live!

This first of its kind guide provides practical tips and guidance on what you can do when you witness a stop and search and how you can safely help the person being searched.

Produced alongside with input from:
➡️ our volunteers
➡️ our community engagement group
➡️
➡️ community event

The guide explains why we need bystanders, how a stop and search should happen, and the different ways you can be an active bystander.

Bystanders can be a vital tool in holding police accountable, but only if they feel empowered to do so in a safe way. Our guide provides the tools to do that.

🔗 Link in bio for the digital version
📧 Email [email protected] to receive free print copies

10/03/2026

A new study, commissioned by MOPAC, has found racial disproportionality in stop and search to be as prevalent as ever.

In a review of over 150,000 stop and search records, some shocking findings were made, including:
- Black people are up to 48 times more likely to be stopped and searched in affluent areas of London
- Violence being mentioned in grounds to search significantly more for Black people than white people, even when the searches were of the same type

Yet, these findings remain unsurprising for those who have monitored the Met in recent decades. Racial profiling is part and parcel of how the force operates, and until this is rooted out, we will continue to see similar reports for years to come.

28/02/2026

📢 Our February 2026 newsletter is now live

In this issue we cover the government's slightly more nuanced statements on weapons violence among young people, rafts of announcements of more funding for policing, police hopes for AI and much more...

🔗 Link in bio to subscribe

03/02/2026

📣 Our first newsletter of 2026 is out and we're starting with the Home Secretary's promise of "new year, new me" with regard to policing.

We know that no new year is complete without yet another set of government proposals to reform policing in order to tackle ‘an everyday epidemic of crime’. Dubbed ‘the largest overhaul of policing in decades’, Shabana Mahmood announced the publication of a white paper intended to alter ‘the last, great unreformed public service’ for the sake of national safety.

We analyse these reforms, and much much more in our January 2026 newsletter.

🔗 Link in bio to subscribe

28/01/2026

This week the Home Secretary announced a raft of proposals aimed at improving policing.

While, on their face, some of the proposals seem aimed at improving accountability, these are already decades too late.

And with one of the reforms being the increasing use of facial recognition technology, it seems that evidence of how racist this technology is continues to be ignored.

03/12/2025

📣 Our November 2025 newsletter is now live!

This month we analyse the annual stop and search and use of force statistics, discuss the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners, and monitor the calls for more stop and search in the wake of the tragic Huntingdon train stabbing.

🔗 Link in bio to subscribe

27/11/2025

🔊 Last week saw the launch of Operation Sceptre - a nationwide police initiative aiming to tackle knife crime.

Data we obtained through Freedom of Information requests shows that, during the last Operation Sceptre in May 2025, 98% of knives were recovered through amnesty bins.

These findings raise serious questions about the continued use of stop search in taking knives off the streets. Such tactics make a marginal contribution to weapon recovery rates, while disproportionately targeting young people and racialised communities.

07/11/2025

Today the Met released Dr Shereen Daniels' report into systemic racism that it tried so hard to bury.

The findings make it clear why the Met wanted to keep it hidden: Dr Daniels is scathing in her assessment of the deliberate entrenchment of racism within the institution.

The decision by the Met to try to keep the report under wraps, and Mark Rowley's half-hearted response display exactly the systemic issues highlighted in the report.

We will wait and see how the Met chooses to act on this but, based on the decades of reports and inquiries before this, we have very little faith there will be any meaningful change.

31/10/2025

📢 Our October 2025 newsletter is now live.

It's a bumper edition this month due to a flood of news centred on police racism, both within and outside the institution.

This month we saw:

✅️ Panorama exposing yet more racism at Charing Cross station (yes, that Charing Cross)
✅️ the devastating recommendations from the police accountability review
✅️ the collapse of the misconduct case against W80
✅️ the frustrating conclusion to the misconduct case against the Croydon bus stop officer
✅️ analysis showing Black Londoners are nearly three times more likely to be strip searched than white Londoners
..and a LOT more

🔗 For all of these stories, subscribe to our newsletter at the link in our bio

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+442082265737

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https://linktr.ee/stopwatchuk

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