Stop and Search: Police Power in Global Context

Police powers to stop, question and search people in public places, and the way these powers are exercised, is a contentious aspect of police-community relations, and a key issue for criminological and policing scholarship, and for public debate about liberty and security more generally. Whilst monitoring and controlling minority populations has always been a feature of police work, new fears, new ‘suspect populations’ and new powers intended to control them have arisen in the face of instability associated with rapid global change. This book synthesises and extends knowledge about stop and search practices across a range of jurisdictions and contexts. It explores the use of stop and search powers in relation to street crime, terrorism and unauthorised migration in Britain, North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. The book covers little researched practices such as road-blocks and ID checking, and discusses issues such as fairness, effectiveness, equity and racial profiling. It provides a substantive and theoretical foundation for transnational and comparative research on police powers in a global context.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Policing and Society.

Leanne Weber is Larkins Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include the detention of asylum seekers in the UK and migration policing networks in Australia. Previous publications include Borders, Mobility and Technologies of Control (2006) and Globalization and Borders: Death at the Global Frontier (2011).

Ben Bowling is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the School of Law at King's College London, UK. He has studied policing since the 1980s and is recognised as a leading authority on police stop and search powers. Previous publications include Policing the Caribbean: Transnational Security Cooperation in Practice (2010) and Global Policing (2012).