Stop and search police powers will be under scrutiny when members of Leicestershire’s independent ethics panel meet later this week.

Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Willy Bach’s Ethics, Integrity and Complaints Committee will meet on Friday (22 June) to review the data on stop and searches carried out in the past few months and the impact they’ve had on detecting crime.

The Committee will consider a report showing the Force’s positive outcome rates have increased month on month from around 20% to 32% in December 2017. This means the number of arrests, cautions and penalty notices issued following a stop and search is rising which indicates greater legitimacy of the tactics.

It goes on to show how use of stop and searches have fallen considerably during the past three years, with 50 to 100 fewer searches per month. Members will discuss whether increased national and local scrutiny rightly placed on stop and search is a reason for the decline and will also consider the impact of a reduced frontline on use of the powers.

Also on the agenda for the meeting will be a series of ethical scenarios requiring discussion and views by the panel including Leicestershire Police’s plans to explore ways of delivering some services online. Such a move could see the Force directing demand to the most appropriate agency where it falls outside the scope of their services and thus releasing valuable resources to frontline threats including cybercrime.

The Ethics, Integrity and Complaints Committee was set up to provide greater accountability to the public of policing processes including the complaints system and hold the Force to account for its decisions.

Meetings are held in public and residents are able to attend and observe proceedings. Minutes are also available on the PCC’s website at: http://www.leics.pcc.police.uk/Transparency/Meetings/Ethics-Integrity-and-Complaints-Meetings/Agenda-and-Papers-Ethics-Committee.aspx