В Северной Ирландии чернокожих останавливают для досмотра в 3,7 раза чаще белых, несмотря на отсутствие задержаний

Black people in Northern Ireland are being stopped and searched by the PSNI at nearly four times the rate of their White counterparts, despite almost nine in 10 of those searches ending without an arrest. Official figures analysed by The Irish News for the 12 months to the end of June show that Black people were stopped at a rate of 37 per 1,000 population, against 10 per 1,000 for White people. That is roughly one stop for every 27 Black people living in Northern Ireland, compared with one for every 100 White people, a stop rate 3.7 times higher. Of the searches, almost nine in 10 ended without an arrest, pointing to questions over why they are disproportionately being targeted by police here. Statistics also show that searches of Black people rose by 37 percent between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the same year that the PSNI launched its Race and Ethnicity Action Plan. At the launch in August 2025, the police force said the plan aimed to “identify and work to eliminate any racism, racial bias, profiling, disparity and discrimination within the Police Service of Northern Ireland”. Despite this, searches of Black people over the same period rose nearly three times faster than searches of their White counterparts, which increased by just 14 percent. Searches of Asian and mixed-ethnicity people also rose over the same period, by 18 and 23 percent respectively, while searches of Irish Travellers fell by 4 percent. Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, told The Irish News: “Black and racialised people in Northern Ireland tell Amnesty that they feel over-policed, yet under-protected when they themselves are victims of racist hate crime. “Last year the PSNI launched a five-year race action plan, committing itself to become an anti-racist police service. “Unfortunately, the reality does not match the rhetoric. If you are Black in 2026, you are almost four times more likely to be stopped and searched by the PSNI than if you are White. This is simply unacceptable. Everyone should be able to walk their own streets without being treated as a suspect because of their race.” The stop and searches took place during a period when ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland were already suffering sustained racist violence, with 512 race-related incidents recorded in June alone, the month when masked rioters attacked homes and property belonging to people and families from ethnic minority backgrounds in parts of the north. This year was the third summer of racist disorder in a row on the streets of Northern Ireland. The two months with the next-highest incident totals on record were August 2024 (349), and June 2025 (348). Figures published by the PSNI on August 27 show racist hate crime has now reached its highest level since records began in 2004/05, with 2,561 race incidents and 1,615 race crimes recorded, in the 12 months to the end of June. Racist crimes with a Black victim rose 47 percent, from 244 to 358, the largest increase of any ethnic group. Worryingly, the statistics also show that a smaller proportion of racially-motivated hate crimes are now being resolved by the PSNI. The sanction outcome rate for racist hate crimes fell from 16.8 percent to 14.8 percent over the same period. Speaking about the stop and search statistics, Daniel Holder of the Committee on the Administration of Justice said they showed a “stark disparity” at a time when the PSNI should be protecting minority groups from violence. “Firstly these figures further dismantle the far right myth that there is some sort of ‘two tier’ policing in favour of ethnic minorities,” he said. “Secondly, however, this is a stark disparity, and we would urge the PSNI to interrogate its root causes and take remedial action. “We have now had racist pogroms three summers in a row, which makes building confidence in the effectiveness of policing all the more important among ethnic minorities.” Alliance Policing Board spokesperson Nuala McAllister said the figures painted “an incredibly concerning picture regarding the use of stop and search powers here in Northern Ireland”. Speaking to The Irish News, the Policing Board member said: “I have raised concerns around this in the past at Policing Board, and asked for explanations as to why we see such disproportionate rates of stop and search across different areas of our community. When these instances evidently aren’t producing results, such as arrests, then we must question what the purpose of them are. “It’s absolutely crucial that everyone in society has confidence in our police service to keep them safe, and that the police will act responsibly and within reason given the powers that they have.” Ms McAllister added that she plans to ensure that the data is “urgently addressed by the Policing Board at the next available opportunity.” Mr Corrigan added: “With race hate crime increasing every year, racialised people in Northern Ireland need the police protecting them, not treating them as suspect communities. “Every unnecessary stop and search will leave a negative impact on community relations, with people left feeling unfairly targeted. In the long run, that is very bad news for police community relations. “The increasing use of stop and search powers by the PSNI merits more scrutiny from the Policing Board.” Fewer than one in 100 PSNI officers is from an ethnic minority background, 0.86 percent of 6,432, according to the force’s workforce figures as of April this year. According to information released by the PSNI in 2025, just one of its 173 officers at chief inspector rank or above was recorded as being from any ethnic minority background. When contacted for comment by The Irish News, PSNI Chief Superintendent Mark Roberts said: “We use stop and search powers to help protect communities throughout Northern Ireland. These powers are vital in helping us prevent, detect and investigate crime and we are fully committed to ensuring they are used fairly, effectively and legitimately. “Importantly, these powers are used when deemed appropriate by an individual officer and are overseen both at a District level by local Commanders and at an organisational level at our Service Accountability Panel. Effective accountability is an important foundation to the use of all police powers and regular updates in relation to stop and search are provided to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, who hold us to account in terms of the use of these and other powers. As recently as July 2026, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary made a number of recommendations for improvement which we have accepted and are in the process of implementing. “We do not regard arrest as the only positive outcome of a stop and search. Other disposals such as community resolution notices or reports to the public prosecution service are also positive outcomes. Reassuringly, our outcome rates remain similar to other UK police services. “There is no doubt that stop and search is an extremely important power when used fairly and effectively. However, we recognise that the use of these powers is a sensitive issue for our communities and I can assure the public, we continually review our practices and training, and have processes in place to ensure that stop and search is used effectively and proportionately.”