Your rights during a police stop and search

Last updated 2026-08-29 · Published by PoliceComplaint.com

Before searching you, an officer must tell you a specific set of things. If they did not, that is relevant, both to any complaint and to whether the search was lawful.

What you must be told

Code of Practice A, made under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, requires an officer to take reasonable steps to bring the following to your attention before the search begins:

• that you are being detained for the purpose of a search
• the officer's name and the station they are attached to
• the legal power being used
• the grounds for the search, or the authorisation if it is a section 60 search
• what they are looking for
• that you are entitled to a copy of the record of the search

If the officer is not in uniform they must show you their warrant card.

What can be removed in public

In public, an officer may require you to remove only an outer coat, jacket and gloves. Anything beyond that must happen out of public view, and more intrusive searches carry further requirements about who may carry them out and where.

Across the forces publishing usable figures, 18,099 recorded searches involved removal of more than outer clothing. The figure for each force is on its page.

Grounds have to exist first

For most search powers the officer must have reasonable grounds to suspect they will find a specific item, and those grounds must exist before the search. Grounds cannot be supplied afterwards by what the search turned up. Reasonable suspicion cannot be based on personal factors alone, not on your age, your appearance, your ethnicity, or a previous conviction.

Section 60 works differently. It allows searches without grounds to suspect you individually, but only in a place and for a period that a senior officer has specifically authorised.

What to do afterwards

Write down what happened while you remember it: the time, the place, what you were told, and any names or shoulder numbers. Ask for the search record. If you want to take it further, the three routes are set out here.

This is general information about the rules that apply, not advice about your own situation.