AS many as one in seven stop and searches carried out by police in a year may have been unlawful, a new report indicates.
The police watchdog Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) examined 100 stop and search records in each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales in the 12 months up to March 2015 and found that some 15 per cent did not have reasonable grounds recorded, as required by law.
Out of the 4,259 records examined, only 17 per cent of the items sought in stop and searches were found, highlighting the low success rate of the tactic, the HMIC's report into police legitimacy found.
HMIC said the findings were "disappointing" and showed that police were failing to meet this "litmus test of legitimacy" - despite the percentage having shrunk from 27 per cent in 2013.
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