Black people are 48 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people in East Sheen, Richmond Upon Thames.
The West London suburb, one of the whitest and most affluent, was found to have some of the most disproportionate levels of stop and searching by ethnicity, according to a new study by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), and King’s College London.
The study, which took data from 2023 and examined 152,000 stops across London, identified 24 wards across London where black people were 48 time more likely to be stopped than white people, equating to more than 4,300 ‘extra’ stops of black Londoners each year.
Paul Mundy-Castle, chair of MOPAC’s external reference group, said: “This is ground-breaking research and testimony to the importance of putting the voice of Londoners at the centre of MOPAC’s work.
“We now encourage the Met police and the organisations who support them to act on these important findings which have the potential to considerably reduce inequality and disproportionality in stop and search.”
The study also shows that people aged 18-24 are the most commonly targeted, 80% of which are male, and that black Londoners see “significantly lower Quality of Grounds” for which they are stopped and searched.
One instance included a case in which a black person gave an officer a “furtive glance”, whereupon no wrongdoing was found.
Last year, Richmond upon Thames had the 4th highest average property value in London at £777,000, a quarter million pounds higher than the Greater London average, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Data from the 2021 census also shows that 83% of East Sheen residents are white, 30% higher than the figures for Greater London.
Dr Yijing Li, senior lecturer in urban informatics at King’s College London, said: “Our modelling revealed clear evidence of unexplained disproportionality in how stop and search powers are used across London.
“These data-driven insights provide a robust evidence base to support fairer, more effective policing in London, and aim to help rebuild trust between communities and law enforcement.”
Featured image credit: Geoffrey Moffett via Unsplash
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