Stop and search where you live
Which power your local force actually uses, and how often a search finds nothing.
Most guides explain s.1 PACE first. Nationally it is the second most-used power — the everyday search is far more likely to be a drugs search under s.23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Your area may differ, which is worth knowing before you are stopped.
Your postcode is sent to postcodes.io to locate it, and — for England, Wales and Northern Ireland — to data.police.uk to identify the force. It is not stored by this site.
Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
29 forces published records for 2026-07, covering 34,867 searches. 65.7% ended in a no further action disposal.
Source: data.police.uk · Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. England, Wales and Northern Ireland only. Police Scotland does not publish to this API. Counts as published for the month shown; no trends or estimates.
In Scotland
Between 2026-04-01 and 2026-06-30, Police Scotland recorded 9,913 stop and searches. 72% were recorded as a negative result — nothing was found.
Source: Police Scotland stop and search data publication · Data published by Police Scotland (© Police Scotland). Aggregated counts reproduced here with attribution; re-use terms were not verified. 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. Counts as published for the period shown; no trends or estimates.