The Metropolitan Police in London doubled its use of Section 60 ‘suspicionless’ stop and search in the lockdown, compared to the previous year. This allows officers to stop and search people with no grounds for suspicion, and is supposed to only be used where there has been serious violence or where there is a risk it may occur in a given area. 

In May 2020, the Metropolitan police stopped and searched 1,418 people under section 60, more than double the number stopped in May 2019. 

‘Suspicionless’ stop and search is used even more disproportionately against black people than stop and search where there is supposedly a reasonable suspicion, with black people 11 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people under section 60, and 4 times more likely otherwise. 

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