Recorded stop and searches by ethnic group and area, divided by census population on a choice of base: 2011 or 2021 census, all ages or ages 10 to 34, both sexes or males only.
Numerator All recorded stop and searches excluding vehicle-only searches, from the Home Office series published via Ethnicity facts and figures, 2006/07 to 2022/23, aggregated from the 43 territorial forces to region. British Transport Police is excluded throughout because it has no geography. Searches with unreported ethnicity, which rose from 5% to 20% over the period, are excluded from every line equally.
Denominators Census usual resident population by region, ethnic group, age and sex, from Census 2011 table DC2101EW and a Census 2021 custom dataset. The published line uses whichever census the Home Office used at the time. The other four apply a single fixed base to all seventeen years.
Breaks in the series The ethnic classification changed at 2019/20, moving Chinese out of "other" and into "Asian". The census denominator changed at 2020/21. Both are marked on the chart.
Missing values A recorded count of zero is treated as missing and is not plotted. Roma is excluded: the code was introduced in 2020/21 and recorded 4 searches nationally in 2022/23. Gypsy or Irish Traveller is shown from 2021/22 only.