Recommendation, Stop and search, Euston - Metropolitan Police Service, November 2019

On the afternoon of 17 November 2019, three cyclists were waiting at a red light on a busy, main road. One of the cyclists, a black man, was stopped by a police officer who advised him to move back behind the white line. The man and officer engaged in a conversation, in which the man informed the officer he had positioned his bicycle over the white line for his own safety. After a brief conversation, and after traffic began to move on, the officer asked the man to join him on the pavement, where he informed him he would be conducting a stop and search as he had smelt cannabis whilst speaking to him.

The officer later told the IOPC that, as well as smelling cannabis, he had been concerned by the man disagreeing with him over the white line, and thought it may have been a way to distract him from the smell if he was in possession of cannabis. He said he did not tell the man this, however, as he did not want the encounter to escalate.

The man was searched under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs act by the officer, who patted him down and looked inside a pocket of his jacket. No cannabis was found on him. The encounter was filmed by one of the other people present and shared on social media. The man who had been searched later made a complaint about the encounter, stating that the grounds for the search were not justifiable, and he was racially profiled by the officer. This was because he was concerned that the officer had linked the smell of cannabis to him because he is black.

The IOPC investigated the complaint and examined: the grounds for the search, the way in which it was conducted, and whether the man was treated less favourably by the officer on the basis of his race.

Our investigators reviewed the body worn video (BWV) of the encounter, as well as mobile phone footage taken by the other person. We took a statement from all three people, as well as the three officers present. Previous stop and search slips for the officer for a one-year period were also reviewed for comparator evidence.

We concluded our investigation in May 2020, and we partially upheld the complaint. We found that the grounds for the search were not reasonable, as the behavioural ground mentioned did not relate to cannabis, and the use of the smell of cannabis as a single ground is not good practice. This is clearly set out in the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on stop and search. We recommended that this be addressed by way of reflective practice for the officer, with a focus on what constitutes reasonable grounds, particularly relating to the smell of cannabis.

We did not uphold the complaint in respect of discriminatory behaviour, as a review of the officer’s stop and search slips suggested he used the same grounds to stop and search people of all races, and men and women. This pointed away from discrimination but supported our view that he would benefit from reflective practice as it showed he often uses similar grounds when stopping and searching members of the public.

However, we did recommend that the officer would benefit from further reflective practice with a focus on the impact of the disproportionate use of stop and search on BAME communities. We recommended this as it appeared the officer did not understand why the man had felt racially profiled by him, despite the assumption that black men smoke cannabis being a well-known public stereotype and the disproportionate use of stop and search on black men being widely known by the public.

The Metropolitan Police reviewed our report and agreed with our recommendations. They have confirmed that the officer will receive reflective practice to address the concerns raised, which will involve active engagement from his local stop and search lead in his further learning, including insight on how the MPS are attempting to improve their understanding of the causes of disproportionately in stop and search.

This investigation was considered as part of a wider piece of work we did to study stop and search cases nationally.