What actually keeps us safe?
Drawing on polling of over 5,000 people across Britain, we found that over half of the public believe investing in social and public services would do more to prevent crime than increasing police numbers or powers
✍️ *NEW* blogpost argues that in light of the recent scandal into police federation bosses' pay, the broader issue of police expenditure of funds should be examined
www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...
Serious Violence Reduction Orders (introduced in 2022) didn’t actually reduce serious violence – the people given an order in court were just as likely to commit further violent crimes as those who weren’t.
Police forces are deploying facial recognition tech across the country. There are serious concerns about the implications....
Mark Wilding from Liberty Investigates @libertyhq.bsky.social joined me on this week's @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast. Tune in!
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...
www.stop-watch.org/what-we-do/r...
#StopWatch has released a guide for bystander intervention. Discover how to effectively support others during stop and search situations. #WeCopWatch
The use of dogs as a police tactic has increased in frequency and severity – disproportionately affecting Black communities – with scant evidence of any accountability when concerns are raised.
www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news...
✨ Following a review of our approach to racial justice by Chrisann Jarrett published last year, we wanted to provide an update on the five actions we committed to, and to share our next steps.
👉 Read more: esmeefairbairn.org.uk/latest-news/...
Today the unaccountable Metropolitan Police Commissioner attacks human rights laws (that police largely ignore) for allegedly making protest policing "untenable", because of their "complexity".
This is another reason why you should join the protest outside London City Hall, a week today on 24 March
What is critical, as @robevansgdn.bsky.social points out, is the Met justified spying on the Menezes family as 'incidental' to targeting what Patricia called "decent and honourable people" supporting her included one of Netpol's founders, Newham Monitoring Project www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
After Sarah Everard, after Nicole Stillman and Bibaa Henry, after Child Q, after Zayna Iman, after the spycops revelations, and more, the government is still willing to leave girls and women more vulnerable to police abuse than ever.
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
“In a dozen instances, misreads by Flock's automated license plate readers, or a lack of verification by officers, resulted in people who hadn't committed crimes being stopped at gunpoint, sent to jail, or mauled by a police dog, among other outcomes.”
Our 'colour of injustice' report (2017) found that the Met saw Black ppl as suspicious enough to be racially profiled wherever they went in London, especially in affluent areas.
In 2026, officer prejudices are still being indulged.
www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar...
'... the missing data could potentially hamper the force's ability to catch criminals in their own ranks.' 🤔
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Passage reads: 'So, the final question is no longer just whether these systems are biased. The state’s own evidence already tells us that they are uneven, racialised, and dangerous in ways that map directly onto the disproportionality that StopWatch and other like-minded organisations have been documenting for years. The deeper question is simpler, and more political: who consented to this, and when? If the consultation closes after the vans are funded, after the infrastructure is commissioned, and after the legal architecture is already being drafted around expansion, then this is not public consent. It is consultation theatre.'
Tom concludes that the approach taken by the government to the issue (with the surveillance apparatus put in place and the intention to legitimise its use through surveillance) is not consensual, but rather 'consultation theatre'.
Passage reads: 'By the time the consultation closed, the real decisions had already been made. The consultation promises clearer rules, new oversight, and more transparency. But it also explicitly says the new framework should 'support technological development' and make police use of these tools easier to justify and more future-proof. This is the new legal patchwork: not a pause for democratic consent, but a framework designed to stabilise and legitimise powers already being expanded. Recent events make that even harder to ignore. On 24 February 2026, the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner published his response to the consultation and warned that 'self-regulation and voluntary standards cannot be relied upon to safeguard human rights.' He argued that serious uses of facial recognition should face tighter legal restriction and, in some cases, independent pre-authorisation. Two days later, it was reported that the Metropolitan police would begin a six-month pilot of operator-initiated facial recognition, with 100 officers using smartphone-based identity checks during stops. While the state talks about safeguards, facial recognition is moving closer to direct street-level encounters.'
Tom also observes that while a recent public consultation focused on safeguards, 'facial recognition is moving closer to direct street-level encounters' regardless
Passage reads: 'While the public is being asked how (or if) facial recognition should be used, the authorities are barrelling ahead to embed it into everyday policing. That is the real story here. This is not a neutral conversation about future possibilities. It is the managed public staging of a direction of travel that has already been chosen. The consultation itself, announced by ministerial written statement on 4 December 2025 and open until 12 February 2026, openly admits that police currently rely on a 'patchwork of common law, data protection, and human rights legislation.' It also proposes a new oversight body to set rules and check compliance. But now that the consultation window has closed, the public debate has effectively passed while the machinery of expansion remains in motion. The government is not asking whether biometric stop and search should be normalised. It is asking how to legalise what it is already scaling. The January 2026 white paper simply extends that logic from pilot fleet to national model. What used to be framed as targeted, and exceptional is now becoming routine equipment. Suspicion is shifting from the officer on the street to the systems around them: the van, the watchlist, the algorithm, the database.'
In the article, author Tom Dixon argues that
'This is not a neutral conversation about future possibilities. It is the managed public staging of a direction of travel that has already been chosen.'
✍️ *NEW* blogpost article about the creeping normalisation of biometric stop and search, before safeguards and regulations are set
www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...
On section 60AA (covering your face): check out the excellent briefing from @netpol.org telling you everything you need to know.
Remember! The police DO NOT have the right to demand the removal of any face coverings in public UNLESS a section 60AA order is in place 😷
netpol.org/2026/02/27/s...
February 2026 newsletter:
🗞 Government promises 'tailored support' for youth caught in possession of a knife
🗞 Vetting of police officers still not up to standard
🗞 Pioneering research shines spotlight on ‘police pursuit killings’ @irrnews.bsky.social
stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/february-2...
"Anti-racist policing" Join us at #CommunitiesForJustice as we discuss why we must say #NoToSection60 and challenge disproportionate and racist policing. #PACE
@stopwatchuk.bsky.social @thebristolcable.bsky.social @netpol.org @libertyhq.bsky.social
www.police.uk/pu/your-area...
📚In the latest issue of Race & Class, Siobhan O’Neill looks at an under-researched aspect of state violence: police pursuits.
According to the IOPC, in the last ten years there have been 299 police-related road traffic fatalities in England and Wales.
irr.org.uk/article/pion...
January 2026 newsletter:
🗞 New police reforms announced
🗞 @justicehq.bsky.social and @netpol.org call to end zero accountability over protest crackdowns
🗞 @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social challenge facial rec use in court
stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/january-20...
Read the full JUSTICE report, Striking the Balance: Protest Rights and Public Order, here: justice.org.uk/reports/stri... (8/9)
BLOGPOST: Where opaque, backdoor algorithmic code governs our life by wielding suspicion by design. Where will it stop? www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...
“The revelation that police continued to roll out a [facial recognition] system they knew was biased against women, young people, and people from racially marginalised groups is deeply troubling."
www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libert...
UK #police forces lobbied to use biased #FacialRecognition technology. System more likely to suggest incorrect matches for images of women and Black people | #disproportionality #law | www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Abimbola Johnson, chair of the independent scrutiny and oversight board: 'These revelations show once again that the anti-racism commitments policing has made through the race action plan are not being translated into wider practice.'
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
REVEALED 🚨
Documents uncovered from the National Police Chiefs’ Council show the police knew about bias in the Police National Database facial recognition system for over a year but ignored it after forces complained about missing potential matches.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
