In a bid to help the police tackle knife crime, in 2019 the government relaxed guidance on Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, enabling police to stop and search people without suspicion or ‘reasonable grounds’. This resulted in the number of Section 60 stop and searches rising more than five times, from 2,503 in 2017-8 to 13,175 in 2018-9, yet only 2% of people stopped under Section 60 were carrying an offensive weapon, such as a knife.

The move is controversial because police statistics for 2019-20 showed that Black people were nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people and 18 times more likely to stopped under Section 60. (my emphasis)

Dr Megan McElhone A closer look at police powers BBK 40 p8