A new dawn for stop & search?

• Explains background to the creation of the Met Police Charter, including the participation of young Londoners.
• Sets out the Charter’s recommendations on stop and search.

In March 2023, Baroness Casey of Blackstock published her final report, entitled ‘An independent review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service’, which had been commissioned in the wake of a series of scandals which ‘rocked policing nationally’. It contained a number of recommendations as to how the Met ought to improve the policing service which it provides, including advocating a ‘fundamental reset’ in the force’s use of statutory stop and search powers. This was to be accomplished by the establishment of a ‘charter with Londoners’ which would set out ‘how and when stop and search is used, with an agreed rationale’, and which would also ‘provide an annual account of its use by area, and by team undertaking stop and searches’. Additionally, it was recommended