London - Black people in Britain are up to eight times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than whites, an independent report said yesterday.
The racial variation in stop and arrest rates across England and Wales was described as "staggering" by the study's compilers. Overall the number of people stopped and searched by police was around 17 per 1,000, according to the report by a police research group Statewatch. Rates vary between five to 48 per 1,000 for different police forces.
But for black people, the figures are altogether higher. In Surrey, black people were eight times more likely to be targeted than white people.
