Stop and search in global context

Police, Stop! Halte! Igazoltatás! Thamba! Tomare! Pare! Alto! Halt! Arrêtez-vous immédiatement! The command issued verbally or in the form of a road sign, a roadblock, or a flashing light on the top of a police car is universal. Police officers around the world have the power to stop, question and search people, their clothing, bags and vehicles in public places. This ranges from street stops of people suspected of possessing prohibited items; ‘suspect passengers’ passing through ports, airports and railway stations; and proactive stop and search carried out in an attempt to prevent serious crime and terrorism. The power to stop, check, interrogate and search, and the way it is exercised, is a contentious aspect of police community relations and a key issue for criminological and policing scholarship. It offers a fascinating case study in the state use of legal powers. It is a visceral manifestation of coercive and intrusive power and the most publicly visible interaction between state agent and citizen or, increasingly, between state agent and non-citizen. This collection examines the power to stop and search in the context of police studies from various parts of the world. The diversity of geographic examples in this collection of essays is echoed in diverse forms of stop and search and in where, how and why it is used. The similarities and differences in the everyday use of stop and search in different countries enable us to look at some key issues. While the pressure to monitor and control minority populations has always been a feature of police work, new and renewed fears about emerging and existing ‘suspect populations’ often accompanied by new powers and technologies intended to control them have arisen in the face of instability associated with rapid global change. This special issue synthesises and extends knowledge about stop and search practices across a range of social, political and cultural contexts. Starting from specific socially, geographically and historically situated locations, the contributions engage with globally relevant themes such as the resurgence of nationalism in the face of globalising pressures; patterns of ethnic and racial targeting; increasing reliance on surveillance and identification technologies; and the convergence of criminal, migration and security paradigms. It is now evident that things happening in one part of the world are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa (Held and McGrew 2002). The world economy has integrated. Transport and telecommunications networks have thickened and widened. Global flows of all kinds have become more extensive, intensive and faster-flowing. Global interconnectedness has created new possibilities for police and criminal justice cooperation and the sharing of technologies, policies and practice (Bowling 2008, Bowling and Sheptycki 2011). Through sharing of information, nodes and networks of power are emerging that involve a range of different organisations locally, nationally and globally. Policing & Society Vol. 21, No. 4, December 2011, 353 356