West Mercia Police to pilot online stop and search map

The pilot, due to start in the autumn, will use geo-mapping technology to record information and pinpoint where stop and searches take place.

This data will be added to crime maps on www.police.uk allowing the public to monitor their use.

The pilot will run until the end of the year before being rolled out nationally from the beginning of 2015, which the force say will bring accountability to stop and search.

The announcement comes as all 43 police forces in England and Wales have agreed to adopt a new voluntary government code of conduct on the use of their powers to stop and search members of the public.

Over the coming weeks West Mercia Police will be implementing their new scheme, which it hopes will increase transparency by recording all outcomes of stop and search and whether there is a connection between the grounds for the search and the outcome.

Chief Constable of West Mercia Police, David Shaw said: "Where these powers are used proportionately and fairly they have an important role to play in helping to keep our communities safe.

"However, West Mercia Police has long recognised that more needs to be done to improve the use of stop and search, which includes addressing the numbers of black and ethnic minority people searched by our officers.

"We have already introduced new methods of stop and search and have been praised in HMIC reports but we are now leading the way with this pilot that will increase transparency and allow the public to monitor progress."

Dyfed-Powys Police has also signed up to the scheme to monitor the use of the stop and search powers.

Chief Constable Simon Prince said: "Dyfed-Powys Police has always recognised that the power to stop and search members of the community is an important one, but only where there are reasonable grounds to do so.

"Quite rightly, there are many restrictions placed on how the police use the power of stop and search. These are there as safeguards – to ensure that stop and search is used in a fair and effective manner. The new best use of stop and search scheme will deliver better, more intelligence–led stop and search, and provide further reassurance to the public about the way we use these powers."

Chief Executive of the College of Policing, Chief Constable Alex Marshall, said: "Stop and search powers are necessary to help us tackle crime and keep people safe but it is clear that they are being misused too often.

"This can leave resentment in our communities and hinder our ability to prevent crime.

"Every police force in England and Wales has committed to the best use of stop and search scheme to improve the way we use these important powers."

West Midlands Police said that by November it will give members of the public the opportunity to observe stop and search in practice and introduce a community complaints trigger.