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.
1. Introduction: Stop and search in global context Leanne Weber and Ben Bowling 2. The formation of suspicions: police stop and search practices in England and Wales Paul Quinton 3. Stop and search in London: counter-terrorist or counter-productive? Alpa Parmar 4. Ethnic profiling in ID checks by the Hungarian police Balázs M. Tóth and András Kádár 5. The usual suspects: police stop and search practices in Canada Scot Wortley and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah 6. The fantastical world of South Africa's roadblocks: dilemmas of a ubiquitous police strategy Monique Marks 7. Police stop and search in India: Mumbai 'nakabandi' Jyoti Belur 8. 'War on Illegal Immigrants', national narratives, and globalisation: Japanese policy and practice of police stop and question in global perspective Mitsuru Namba 9. Ethnic profiling in the Netherlands? A reflection on expanding preventive powers, ethnic profiling and a changing social and political context Joanne P. van der Leun and Maartje A.H. van der Woude 10. 'It sounds like they shouldn't be here': immigration checks on the streets of Sydney Leanne Weber 11. Suspecting immigrants: exploring links between racialised anxieties and expanded police powers in Arizona Doris Marie Provine and Gabriella Sanchez 12. Stop and search in global context: an overview Ben Bowling and Leanne Weber
