Civometry

Home Office · Police powers and procedures: stop and search

Stop and searches

Year ending March 2025 Final

528,582searches

Stop and searches were 528,582 searches in the year ending March 2025, down 1.4% (7,635) from 536,217 in the year ending March 2024.

▼ 1.4% · −7,635 against Year ending March 2024 (year on year)

  1. Home Office count
  2. Year ending March 2025
  3. published 6 November 2025
  4. SS_21
  5. row “2024/25”
  6. column “Total searches”
  7. cell value 528582

Year ending March 2002 to Year ending March 2025

Stop and searches: Year ending March 2002 to Year ending March 2025LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour0500k1m1.5m20052010201520202025Before: Excludes British Transport Police. After: Includes British Transport Police, from 2009/10.coverage changeYear ending March 2002: 770,100 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2003: 971,800 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2004: 823,600 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2005: 940,100 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2006: 974,998 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2007: 1,050,438 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2008: 1,233,208 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2009: 1,519,561 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2010: 1,405,985 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2011: 1,303,540 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2012: 1,189,882 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2013: 1,017,542 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2014: 904,038 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2015: 541,144 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2016: 383,595 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2017: 304,132 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2018: 282,380 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2019: 385,154 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2020: 586,645 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2021: 714,914 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2022: 530,970 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2023: 547,000 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2024: 536,217 searches · published 6 November 2025Year ending March 2025: 528,582 searches · published 6 November 2025
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestDashed line: change in coverage or methodShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Breakdowns

What this measures

The number of stop and searches carried out by police in England and Wales in the year ending March under all relevant legislation, including section 1 PACE, section 60 and terrorism powers, and including vehicle-only searches.

What this doesn’t measure

Stops that did not lead to a search, searches in Scotland and Northern Ireland, or British Transport Police searches before 2009/10.

Important caveat

Stop and search counts cover section 1 of PACE and associated legislation, section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, sections 44 and 47A of the Terrorism Act 2000, section 342E of the Sentencing Act 2020 and section 11 of the Public Order Act 2023, and include vehicle- only searches. British Transport Police data are included from 2009/10, so earlier years are not directly comparable. The arrest rate is the number of resultant arrests as a proportion of searches, as calculated by the Home Office, and does not indicate whether the arrest related to the reason for the search.

When the way this was measured changed

A series can move because the thing being measured changed, or because the way of measuring it changed. Each change below is marked on the chart, and says what the figures meant on either side of it.

April 2009 · coverage change

Before
Excludes British Transport Police.
After
Includes British Transport Police, from 2009/10.

British Transport Police data included from 2009/10; earlier years are not directly comparable.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
Home Office
Publication
Police powers and procedures: stop and search
Release
Year ending March 2025, published 6 November 2025
Source file
stop-search-data-tables-summary-mar25.ods
File SHA-256
899831b67761ad9d864a764bfde474b09b143956a08f889bb5dce30f2ecd276b
Retrieved
2 September 2026
Sheet
SS_21
Table
SS_21
Row
2024/25
Column
Total searches
Cell value
528582
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
searches
API
/api/metrics/stop_search_total · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Conservative 2019–2024385,154Year ending March 2019536,217Year ending March 2024↑ 39.2%
Conservative 2017–2019304,132Year ending March 2017385,154Year ending March 2019↑ 26.6%
Conservative 2015–2017541,144Year ending March 2015304,132Year ending March 2017↓ 43.8%
Coalition 2010–20151,405,985Year ending March 2010541,144Year ending March 2015↓ 61.5%
Labour 2005–2010940,100Year ending March 20051,405,985Year ending March 2010↑ 49.6%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Year ending March 2025 · publication page
Last updated
6 November 2025
Next release expected
November 2026 (estimated from the usual cadence)