Recommendation 48

Stop and search is an important police power and the Macpherson report’s conclusion that it has a useful role to play in the prevention and detection of crime still applies. However the nature of the unexplained and unjustified racial disparities, and the way we have seen stop and search used, has too often damaged confidence both in stop and search itself and in policing by consent for the BME communities most affected by it. That confidence needs to be rebuilt. Policing needs to be fair and seen to be fair. (Paragraph 367) 184 The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on