stop and search
Detain and inspect
Stop and search is a police power allowing officers to detain and search individuals in public without a warrant, typically when they have reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
The practice is controversial, with critics citing racial profiling and disproportionate targeting of minorities: Young Black men report being stopped and searched far more often than their white peers.
Primarily British terminology; American equivalents include stop and frisk or Terry stop.
- friskSearch by touch
- detainHold in custody
- patdownManual body search
- procedurePrescribed sequence of actions
- suspectBelieve to be likely
reasonable suspicion · racial profiling · plain-clothes · street corner · pulled over · law enforcement · officer · minority rights · investigation · contraband · anti-discrimination laws · systemic bias · human rights · checkpoints · highway patrol · disproportionality · privacy concerns · public safety
- policingpatrol, police powers, arrests, police officer, arrest
- interdictionsinterdiction, drug interdiction, seizure, seizures, drug seizure
- public orderriot, public order, breach of peace, disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly
- UK Policebobby, constable, sergeant, inspector, detective
- violent crimesstabbing, knife attack, slashing, homicide, manslaughter
stop and searchfree passage
Unhindered right to travel
detention · custody · incarceration · community policing · prosecution
stop and searchfreedom of movement
Liberty to travel unimpeded
right to privacy · civil liberties · free passage · presumption of innocence · personal autonomy
stop and searchcommunity policing
Partnership-based crime prevention
non-intervention · detective work · community engagement · restorative justice · de-escalation
stop, search, stops, stopped, stopping, stopper, stoppage, unstoppable, searches