If you complain about Durham Constabulary and ask for a review, the reviewing body found the force's original outcome was not reasonable and proportionate in 23.4% of 47 completed reviews in 2024/25, the 19th highest of 43 forces and 1.1 points below the national figure of 24.5%. Durham Constabulary recorded 8,302 stop and searches between 2023-07 to 2026-06, and 66.5% ended in no further action.

23.4%

of completed reviews found Durham Constabulary's own complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate

IOPC, 2024/25. 11 of 47 reviews.

380

complaint cases per 1,000 employees

IOPC, 2024/25. 960 cases, 2,525 employees.

66.5%

of stop and searches ended in no further action

data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-06. 5,245 of 7,887 recorded outcomes.

searches involved removal of more than outer clothing

data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-06.

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Fact 3 of 10

Of the people Durham Constabulary searched where ethnicity was recorded, the largest group was recorded as White at 96.2%, which is 7,678 of 7,983 searches.

Source: data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-06. Figures as published; see the tables on this page for the full denominators.

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Before you share this. This is a statistic reproduced from an official publication, not an allegation against any officer or force, and not a finding of wrongdoing. Share it with the source attached, which is why the source is included in the share text. Do not add claims of your own to it, what you write alongside a figure is yours, not ours, and you are responsible for it. Numbers are as published at the date shown and may be restated later by the body that published them.

Complaints about Durham Constabulary

Complaint cases logged	960
Employees	2,525
Cases per 1,000 employees	380.2 (28th of 44)
Review applications to the local policing body	26
Review applications to the IOPC	39

Stop and search by Durham Constabulary

Searches recorded	8,302
Period	2023-07 to 2026-06
Months of data	36 of 36
Ended in no further action	66.5%
More than outer clothing removed	49

What Durham Constabulary searched people for

Stated object of search	Searches
Controlled drugs	4,133
Article for use in theft	1,531
Offensive weapons	1,347
Stolen goods	829
Articles for use in criminal damage	289

Who Durham Constabulary searched

Officer-defined ethnicity	Searches	Share
White	7,678	96.2%
Asian	118	1.5%
Black	109	1.4%
Other	78	1.0%

Calculated over the 7,983 searches where an officer recorded an ethnicity, which is 96.2% of all searches by this force.

Compared with who lives in the Durham Constabulary area

Ethnic group	Share of searches	Share of residents	Ratio
Other	1.0%	0.5%	2.0x
White	96.2%	96.4%	1.0x
Asian	1.5%	1.7%	0.9x

What this ratio is and is not. It compares the share of searches to the share of people resident in this force area at the 2021 Census. It takes no account of who is present in a place rather than living there, which matters most in city centres and transport hubs. A ratio above one means a group is searched more often than its resident share, and that is a pattern requiring explanation, not evidence of discrimination in itself. Groups under 0.5% of the resident population are omitted because the figure becomes unstable. Every force compared.

Use of force by Durham Constabulary

Year	Use of force reports	Relative volume
2020/21	8,310
2021/22	9,208
2022/23	9,522
2023/24	11,698
2024/25	11,746

Recorded use of force by Durham Constabulary has risen 41.3% since 2020/21. Nationally the total rose 39.4% over the same period, so this force is rising faster than the national trend.

Taser use

Total recorded Taser uses	430
Of which discharged	78
Share actually discharged	18.1%

Most recorded Taser use is drawing, aiming or red-dotting rather than firing. The share actually discharged is the figure worth knowing.

Complaining to Durham Constabulary

Complaints go to the force first. Use its own official channel so the complaint is recorded properly and you get written confirmation.

Durham Constabulary official websiteSource: data.police.uk
Telephone: 101Non-emergency number. Always call 999 in an emergency.

Build a complaint letter for Durham Constabulary

What you can do about it

Complaining to a force and bringing a claim against it are different processes with different outcomes. Reviews overturn the force's own finding in roughly a quarter of cases nationally, which makes the review stage worth understanding before you use it.

How to complain about the police

Durham Constabulary in the news

The five most recent reports mentioning this force, collected automatically. Headlines and links belong to the publishers named. We do not edit, summarise or endorse them, and inclusion here does not imply any finding against anyone.

Police condemn behaviour after vehicles set alight in Haswell Durham Constabulary · 28 Aug 2026
Torching cars at A66 crash vigil ‘completely unacceptable’, say police The Independent · 28 Aug 2026
Man with connections to Durham, Spennymoor and Seaham wanted by police The Northern Echo · 28 Aug 2026
Forensic marking spray issued to farmers to combat rural crime Durham Constabulary · 27 Aug 2026
Police statement as man arrested after A690 crash left one person in hospital Chronicle Live · 26 Aug 2026

Sources

Independent Office for Police Conduct, police complaints statistics for England and Wales, 2024/25.
data.police.uk stop and search API, 2023-07 to 2026-06. Accessed 2026-08-29.
Home Office police use of force statistics, England and Wales, 2024/25.

Data last refreshed 29 August 2026, covering 2023-07 to 2026-06. Every figure on this page is recomputed from the source datasets, not edited by hand. Found something wrong? Tell us.