Get involved in improving stop and search

We do not underestimate the impact stop and search has on communities and individuals. We know that to maintain public confidence in its use, the power must be used in a correct and effective manner.

Community engagement

It's important to understand the impact stop and search has on communities and individuals. We do this through community engagement, scrutiny and community accountability.

Measuring the effect of stop and search

We publish stop and search data regularly so that we can be transparent about how stop and search is used, what is monitored and what is recorded. View our stop and search data.

How to get involved

Ride Along Scheme

We are no longer accepting applications for the stop and search Ride Along Scheme. The purpose of the scheme was to allow members of the public to see stop and search encounters conducted by the police so they can improve their understanding of the process and see a stop and search encounters first-hand but when participating in the ride along we could not guarantee that a stop search encounter would occur.

Police Officers are now required to use Body Worn Video to record interactions with the public where they are using their police powers and this includes stop and search encounters.

Members of the public can now attend their local police station and review stop and search encounters recorded by the police at Community Cohesion Group meetings.

If you are interested in learning more about the police use of stop and search and would like to participate please get in touch using the details below.

Scrutiny Panels

Scrutiny panels take place throughout the year in various formats. These are when members of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) or members of the public meet police representatives and scrutinise the use of stop and search in Cheshire.

In addition to the IAG, each Local Policing Unit (LPU) has a Community Cohesion Group (CCG) where the local public meet with the local police to scrutinise how the police use their powers such as Stop and Search.

Please email us to ask about the results of these scrutiny panels.

We also have a quarterly Police Accountability Meeting which is independently chaired. This meeting takes account of the public’s view of how we use powers, delivers training to officers and reviews force policy regarding stop and search (and other powers). The data shared in these meetings is available on our stop and search page.

To get involved in your local Community Cohesion Group, the Police Accountability meeting or the Independent Advisory Group please email us.

In addition to this, in March 2024 we launched a monthly scrutiny panel that is made up of representatives from the University of Chester, Child Action Northwest and the IAG. This group will focus on ensuring the use of stop search powers in Cheshire continues to be fair, transparent and appropriate.