Version 1
: Received: 18 May 2022 / Approved: 19 May 2022 / Online: 19 May 2022 (08:11:14 CEST)
How to cite:
Halford, E. The Impact of COVID-19 on Police Intelligence Reports and Stop and Search within the United Kingdom. Preprints2022, 2022050254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0254.v1
Halford, E. The Impact of COVID-19 on Police Intelligence Reports and Stop and Search within the United Kingdom. Preprints 2022, 2022050254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0254.v1
Halford, E. The Impact of COVID-19 on Police Intelligence Reports and Stop and Search within the United Kingdom. Preprints2022, 2022050254. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0254.v1
APA Style
Halford, E. (2022). The Impact of COVID-19 on Police Intelligence Reports and Stop and Search within the United Kingdom. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0254.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Halford, E. 2022 "The Impact of COVID-19 on Police Intelligence Reports and Stop and Search within the United Kingdom" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202205.0254.v1
Abstract
The full impact of COVID-19 on policing, crime and disorder is slowly being fully unraveled. However, there remains a number of areas of policing that are yet to be examined in detail. Two of these areas include the impact on the intrinsically linked, volume of police recorded intelligence reports, and the use of stop and search. In this study we examine them symbiotically and frame them in the context of the intelligence led policing model, in particular in an effort to understand how national lockdowns in the United Kingdom affected both proactive policing approaches and the underpinning intelligence cycle. To achieve this, we use data from freedom of information requests regarding the annual levels of recorded police intelligence over a 10-year period for 20 police services. To supplement this, we examine overall national monthly volumes of stop and search activity over a 5-year period. Finally, we then use a case study approach of 3 police services to further explore changes in the conduct of stop and search such as the officer defined ethnicity, grounds for search and disposal outcomes. The findings indicate that both recorded intelligence reports and stop and search increased dramatically during periods of lockdown, despite widespread decreases in crime and social mobility. Changes in proportional impact are identified for White and Black citizens, searches for controlled drugs and the no further action disposal, but these are not consistent across police services. Potential causes and implications are then discussed and again, framed within the context of the impact on the intelligence led policing model and wider policing environment.
Keywords
Policing; Crime; Stop and Search; Intelligence Led Policing; COVID-19; Coronavirus
Subject
Social Sciences, Sociology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
