Regulating Stop-and-Search in England and Wales: Public Controversy as a Catalyst for Control

This chapter discusses a key moment of change in stop-and-search policy and practice in England and Wales in 2010. It charts a push-and-pull between authoritarian drives to control crime through more police stop-and-search on the one hand and, on the other, libertarian concerns to protect the public from arbitrary police action and anti-racist drives to improve police and community relations. We describe some of the public controversies that put stop-and-search on the political agenda and explore the dynamic role of civil society and the courts in creating a political climate primed to initiate reforms.