Rights and LimitsStopped in the street or in a vehicleStop and search in Scotland
Stop and search in Scotland
What you must do, and what you can refuse
Every claim below links to the law it comes from, with the wording quoted so you can check it yourself.
You must
Refusing is a criminal offence.
The officer may detain you for the purpose of carrying out a lawful drugs search.
So walking away mid-search risks arrest for obstruction. Object verbally, not physically.
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, s.23(2)(a)
“search that person, and detain him for the purpose of searching him”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
If you are being taken to or from a place, a constable may search you to check you are not carrying an item or substance that could cause harm to you or someone else.
For example, between a police station and a hospital. This is a narrower power than a general search — it is not a licence to look for evidence of an offence.
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, s.66(1)
“A person who is not in police custody may be searched by a constable while the person is to be, or is being, taken to or from any place— by virtue of any enactment, warrant or court order requiring or permitting the constable to do so, or— in circumstances in which the constable believes that it is necessary to do so with respect to the care or protection of the person.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
A constable may search and detain you if they have reasonable grounds to suspect you are in possession of stolen property.
A separate Scottish power from the drugs power above — the same rule still applies: no statutory power, no lawful search.
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, s.60(1)(a)
“if a constable has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is in possession of any stolen property, the constable may without warrant— search that person or anything in his possession, and detain him for as long as is necessary for the purpose of that search”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
A constable may search and detain you where they have reasonable grounds to suspect BOTH that you have such an article with you AND that you have committed or are committing the offence of carrying it.
Two limbs, not one. An article with a blade or a sharp point is not automatically an offence to carry — section 49 allows for good reason or lawful authority — so suspicion of possession alone does not open the power.
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.50(1)
“Where a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person has with him an article to which section 49 of this Act applies and has committed or is committing an offence under subsection (1) of that section, the constable may search that person without warrant and detain him for such time as is reasonably required to permit the search to be carried out.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
You can refuse
No penalty for saying no.
The power to search you does not exist unless it is either conferred in express terms by an Act of Parliament, or authorised by a warrant expressly conferring a power of search.
This is a direct statutory prohibition, not a guideline — a search without one of those two things is unlawful.
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, s.65(2)
“It is unlawful for a constable to search the person otherwise than— in accordance with a power of search conferred in express terms by an enactment”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
You are entitled to receive a copy of the record of the search under the statutory Code of Practice.
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, s.73(1) and (2)(c)(ii)
“The Scottish Ministers must make a code of practice about the carrying out of a search of a person who is not in police custody.— A code of practice must set out (in particular)— the right of someone to receive a copy of the record”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
The power to search you while being taken to or from a place is limited to checking you are not carrying an item or substance that could cause harm to you or someone else — it does not extend to a general search.
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, s.66(2)
“A search under this section is to be carried out for the purpose of ensuring that the person is not in, or does not remain in, possession of any item or substance that could cause harm to the person or someone else.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
The power to search you for a bladed or pointed article applies only to an article which has a blade or is sharply pointed — not to anything an officer simply considers dangerous.
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.49(2)
“this section applies to any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
That power does not apply to a small folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade does not exceed three inches.
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.49(3)
“This section does not apply to a folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade does not exceed three inches (7.62 centimetres).”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
If you are detained for a search on suspicion of a bladed or pointed article, you are entitled to be told the reason for your detention.
Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, s.50(2)
“A constable who detains a person under subsection (1) above shall inform him of the reason for his detention.”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-30
Lawful to refuse — but it costs you
Not an offence, but it carries a penalty or an inference.
Physically resisting, obstructing or hindering a constable carrying out a lawful search is a separate criminal offence in itself.
The street is the wrong place to argue whether a search is lawful — note the officer’s details and raise it afterwards.
Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, s.90(2)-(3)(a)
“It is an offence for a person to resist, obstruct or hinder— that of a constable”
Read it at legislation.gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
What actually happens, by the numbers
Between 2026-04-01 and 2026-06-30, Police Scotland recorded 9,913 stop and searches across Scotland.
72% of those searches — 7,138 of them — were recorded as a negative result: nothing was found. Being searched is not, on the published record, a strong predictor of anything being found.
The power most often used
| Power | Searches | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Sec 23(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Controlled Drugs) | 6,937 | 70% |
| Sec 66 Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (Removal of person) | 1,114 | 11.2% |
| Sec 60(1) Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Stolen Property) | 621 | 6.3% |
| Sec 50 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 (Bladed or Pointed Articles) | 448 | 4.5% |
Which is worth knowing before you are stopped: the everyday Scottish search is a drugs search under s.23(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act, used far more than any other power here. It still needs reasonable grounds.
Source: Police Scotland stop and search data publication · period 2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30 · retrieved 2026-09-05 · Data published by Police Scotland (© Police Scotland). Aggregated counts reproduced here with attribution; re-use terms were not verified. Counts as published; no trends or estimates. Scotland only. England, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered separately, from data.police.uk, in police-stats.json. The two datasets use different methodologies and must never be combined or compared as if they were one national figure.
Consensual search is over
For years, Police Scotland carried out searches on the basis of a person’s agreement alone, without any statutory power behind them — so-called “consensual” search. That practice ended. Under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, it is unlawful for a constable to search someone who is not in police custody unless the search is either authorised in express terms by an Act of Parliament, or carried out under a warrant that expressly confers a power of search.
There is no third route. If an officer cannot point to a specific statutory power or a warrant, the search is not lawful, whatever you say or agree to at the time.
Which power, in practice
The powers actually used day to day are set out in specific statutes, not in the 2016 Act itself. A common example is the power to search for controlled drugs, which applies across the whole UK: if a constable has reasonable grounds to suspect you are in possession of a controlled drug, they may search you and detain you for the purpose of that search.
Drugs is not the only one. Three other Scotland-specific powers turn up often enough that it is worth knowing what each actually covers, and what it does not.
As with any statutory power, asking which one is being used, and on what grounds, is fair — you are entitled to know why you are being searched.
Three other powers you might meet
Being taken to or from a place. If you are not in police custody but are being taken to or from somewhere — for example between a police station and a hospital — a constable may search you, but only for a specific reason: to check you are not carrying anything that could cause harm to you or to someone else. It is not a general power to search for evidence of an offence.
Suspected stolen property. A separate, Scotland-specific power lets a constable search and detain you if they have reasonable grounds to suspect you are in possession of stolen property. The same underlying rule from above still applies to it — it is a specific statutory power, not a general licence, and it does not exist without those grounds.
A bladed or pointed article. A constable may also search and detain you if they have reasonable grounds to suspect you are carrying a knife or other article with a blade or a sharp point in a public place. That power does not reach a small folding pocketknife with a blade of three inches or less — the offence it is built around does not apply to one.
Last reviewed 2026-08-31. Next review due 2027-02-25. No solicitor has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.