Police Stop and Search Within British Muslim Communities: Evidence From the Crime Survey 2006–11

Abstract This article discusses police stop and search within British Muslim communities and reports the analysis of statistical data collected by the Crime Survey of England and Wales between 2006 and 2011. The primary aim of the article is to determine the extent to which Crime Survey data support or challenge allegations of police discrimination against British Muslim communities. The context for the study is provided by criminological literature related to the policing of British African Caribbean and British Muslim communities. The article engages with the concept of ‘institutional Islamophobia’ and represents the first known study to model large-scale police stop and search data from British Muslim communities. Overall, the findings reveal a more complex picture of police stop and search practices within these communities than might be assumed from an uncritical reading of the literature.