Black people in Cumbria were more than four times as likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people last year, new figures show.

Human rights organisation Liberty said stop and search is traumatic and distressing and called on the Government to invest in addressing the issues it creates.

Cumbria Police said that ‘stop and search is never used lightly’, and police officers will only exercise their legal right to stop members of the public when they “genuinely suspect” that doing so will further their investigations into criminal activity.

Home Office figures show Cumbria Constabulary carried out 70 stop and searches on black people in the year to March – equivalent to 58.6 per 1,000 black people in the area.

This is compared to a rate of 14.2 per 1,000 white people in Cumbria, meaning black people were 4.1 times more likely to be subject to a stop-and-search.

Cumbria Police said that due to Cumbria’s ‘small settle black community’ these figures can ‘inflate the proportion’ of stop and search figures alongside Cumbria being a tourist hotspot.

Across forces in England and Wales, people who self-identified or who police identified as black were five times more likely to be stopped and searched – down from 5.5 times the year before and 6.2 in 2021-22.

Black people were also more likely to be arrested following a stop-and-search. Across England and Wales, 15.9 per cent of stop and searches conducted on black people resulted in arrest, compared to 13.9 per cent of those involving white people.

Ruth Ehrlich, head of policy and campaigns at Liberty, said: “Stop and search is traumatic and distressing – and something that black people are far more likely to experience. Just because this disproportionality is not new does not mean we should fail to be appalled by it.

“For years, previous Governments have failed communities by stripping away the support that they need, and used racist and violent policing tools to try and paper over the cracks.

“We need the new Government to take urgent action to reduce the use of stop and search, and for greater investment to tackle these serious issues.”

Ms Ehrlich raised concerns about the number of stop and searches conducted on children, with 103,000 (19.3 per cent) on under-18 year olds across England and Wales last year.

In Cumbria, children accounted for 15.1 per cent of all stop and searches.

Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley said “In Cumbria we have worked hard to increase our use of stop search as a proactive tool to tackle and disrupt criminality.

“However, stop and search is never used lightly, and police officers will only exercise their legal right to stop members of the public and search them when they genuinely suspect that doing so will further their investigations into criminal activity – whether that means looking for weapons, drugs or stolen property. The use of body worn video is mandated for stop search.

“We conducted 8,314 stop searches in the year to March 2024, of those 70 searches were of a black ethnic group and 6,937 of a white ethic group.

“Cumbria has a small settled black community and when comparing stop search data which also includes people out of our force area per 1,000 population, it can inflate the proportion of stop search figures and can be misleading, based around small numbers.

“Cumbria Constabulary are committed to implementing the National Police Race Action Plan objectives and we consider disproportionality across all use of our policing powers to ensure we act fairly and actively root out bias and discrimination from our organisation.

“We want our communities and those visiting Cumbria to feel confident that all representatives of the force will treat them with respect, free of bias, racism, or discrimination of any kind. Internally we review our stop searches and work hard to understand any disproportionality.

“Our analysis shows us that a substantial proportion of the minority ethnic group stop searches conducted were on our major arterial routes of the M6 and A66 through Cumbria, which are based on intelligence in combatting criminality and the supply of drugs.   Many of the individuals stopped were not residents of the County.

“We have strict oversight in place around stop searches with internal and external scrutiny. The Office of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) bring together an independent Community Scrutiny Panel.  

“The panel consists of people from local communities within Cumbria to provide independence and challenge, enabling policing to be more effective and in the public interest. This panel is the formal external scrutiny in relation to stop search.

“Reviewing of data and body worn video of specific searches allows for the external group to provide scrutiny and feedback.

“In Cumbria, we have stopped searched 1,254 children aged 10 to 17 which when analysed internally is with the aim of removing offensive weapons and tackling youth knife and weapon issues with both posing a significant risk to children.

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“All children who are stopped and searched within Cumbria are referred to the constabulary’s child-centred policing teams, who review the incident and decide how best to communicate with the child and their family to offer support and guidance. This has been highlighted as good practice by HMIC in the recent inspection.

“The Constabulary regularly communicates key changes to its officers with specific training on changes to national guidance and legislation to ensure we are using our powers correctly.

"This work will ensure that within Cumbria Police, we treat everyone fairly and legitimately, that we are positively anti-racist and improve public trust."