If you complain about Merseyside Police and ask for a review, the reviewing body found the force's original outcome was not reasonable and proportionate in 13.0% of 77 completed reviews in 2024/25, the 36th highest of 43 forces and 11.5 points below the national figure of 24.5%. Merseyside Police recorded 182,231 stop and searches between 2023-07 to 2026-06, and 77.3% ended in no further action.

13%

of completed reviews found Merseyside Police's own complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate

IOPC, 2024/25. 10 of 77 reviews.

325

complaint cases per 1,000 employees

IOPC, 2024/25. 2,293 cases, 7,062 employees.

77.3%

of stop and searches ended in no further action

data.police.uk, 2023-07 to 2026-06. 116,719 of 150,950 recorded outcomes.

3,784

searches involved removal of more than outer clothing

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

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Merseyside Police recorded 3,784 searches involving removal of more than outer clothing.

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 Merseyside Police

Complaint cases logged	2,293
Employees	7,062
Cases per 1,000 employees	324.7 (35th of 44)
Review applications to the local policing body	55
Review applications to the IOPC	17

Where reviews found the outcome was not reasonable and proportionate

Route	Reviews completed	Outcome overturned	Rate
Local policing body, complaint not investigated	50	4	8.0%

Stop and search by Merseyside Police

Searches recorded	182,231
Period	2023-07 to 2026-06
Months of data	36 of 36
Ended in no further action	77.3%
More than outer clothing removed	3,784

What Merseyside Police searched people for

Stated object of search	Searches
Controlled drugs	114,820
Offensive weapons	10,404
Article for use in theft	6,744
Stolen goods	5,755
Anything to threaten or harm anyone	3,773

Who Merseyside Police searched

Officer-defined ethnicity	Searches	Share
White	156,606	91.5%
Black	6,643	3.9%
Other	4,046	2.4%
Asian	3,803	2.2%

Calculated over the 171,098 searches where an officer recorded an ethnicity, which is 93.9% of all searches by this force.

Compared with who lives in the Merseyside Police area

Ethnic group	Share of searches	Share of residents	Ratio
Black	3.9%	1.5%	2.6x
Other	2.4%	1.5%	1.6x
White	91.5%	91.7%	1.0x
Asian	2.2%	3.1%	0.7x

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.

Recording gaps. Merseyside Police did not record an outcome for 17.2% of its searches, and did not record officer-defined ethnicity for 6.1% over this period. Percentages on this page are calculated only over the records where the relevant field was actually recorded.

Use of force by Merseyside Police

Year	Use of force reports	Relative volume
2020/21	7,589
2021/22	10,440
2022/23	10,926
2023/24	14,886
2024/25	20,658

Recorded use of force by Merseyside Police has risen 172.2% 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	1,120
Of which discharged	74
Share actually discharged	6.6%

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

Complaining to Merseyside Police

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

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

Build a complaint letter for Merseyside Police

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

Merseyside Police 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 presence in Stanley Park, Liverpool merseyside.police.uk · 30 Aug 2026
Man sentenced to eight years imprisonment for burglary and robbery offences merseyside.police.uk · 29 Aug 2026
Murder investigation launched after body of woman found in park Sky News · 29 Aug 2026
Murder investigation launched after body of woman found in Stanley Park merseyside.police.uk · 29 Aug 2026
Stanley Park murder probe after woman's body found in park BBC · 29 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.