Police Stops in Europe: A Citadel Under Siege, But Still Standing

As an issue for public debate, police stops are not new. In the United States, the Kerner Commission in 1968 identified controls as one of the triggers of the urban riots of the 1960s. In England, the riots in Brixton, South London, in 1981 followed the massive use of the ‘sus laws’ to search young Black men during Operation Swamp. In both countries, high-profile incidents bring the debate to the forefront with some regularity. Indeed, we are very familiar with some of the associated names: Rodney King; Eric Garner; Michael Brown; George Floyd.

For decades the inappropriate use of these powers, both real and perceived, has tarnished the relationship between constables and the communities they serve, and in doing so has brought into question the very legitimacy of the police service.

(Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2013: 2)

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As an issue for public debate, police stops are not new. In the United States, the Kerner Commission in 1968 identified controls as one of the triggers of the urban riots of the 1960s. In England, the riots in Brixton, South London, in 1981 followed the massive use of the ‘sus laws’ to search young Black men during Operation Swamp. In both countries, high-profile incidents bring the debate to the forefront with some regularity. Indeed, we are very familiar with some of the associated names: Rodney King; Eric Garner; Michael Brown; George Floyd.

However, starting a COST Action on Police Stops in 2018 appeared, to some of our early continental European participants, a strange project. What was the problem? Officers have powers (depending on the country) to stop citizens, to check their identity and sometimes to search or detain them. They exercise these powers to prevent crime and to identify persons suspected of offences. Indeed, police stops remain largely uncontroversial to this day in Croatia (see Chap. 3) and in other EU states. However, more than four years on and following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement has transformed debates in some Western European countries. Subsequently, the pandemic has also shed light on police practices in ways we have not previously seen. Suddenly, the White middle class might be subject to police attention.
This collection, part of the culmination of our work in the COST Action, explores police stops as a public issue in 13 European countries. In each case, authors review the key debates and focusing events that shape the particular trajectory in each country. In this introductory chapter, we will bring together the common themes and controversies that emerge from these chapters. However, this is not to trace some inevitable trajectory towards the regulation of these police powers. Instead, we seek to ask why it is that the use of police stops rises and falls as a political issue at different times and in different countries. In what circumstances and contexts does the issue gain traction such that it leads to reforms?