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Black people in Lincolnshire are six times more likely to be stopped and searched by police as white people.

Statistics released by the Home Office reveal that Lincolnshire police stopped and searched black people in our county 43 times in 2017-18.

That’s a rate of 163 stop and searches for every 10,000 black people in Lincolnshire.

In comparison, white people were searched 1,942 times over the same period - just 27 searches for every 10,000 people.

It makes black people in Lincolnshire six times as likely to be stopped and searched as white people - the biggest gap seen in our county in the last decade.

Home Secretary Priti Patel last month announced a nationwide extension of a scheme expanding police powers when it comes to stop and searches.

It will allow police to stop and search someone when they believe a crime may - rather than will - be committed.

(Image: BIRMINGHAM MAIL)

Patel says stop and search “works”, but race equality groups have condemned the decision, saying stop and search disproportionately targets black and ethnic minorities.

In an open later the the Home Secretary, a coalition of 20 race equality organisations express grave concerns with the new scheme.

They said: “Home Secretary Patel’s claims that ‘stop and search’ tactics are the foremost way to curtail serious youth violence are erroneous at best and disingenuous at worst.

“The latest announcements by the Home Secretary represent regressive and counterproductive policing policy and cheap political point scoring.

“Deliberately or not, the Section 60 proposals are too often discriminatory, inflammatory, ineffectual in reducing serious violent crime, and ultimately alienating to a generation of young children and adults that are from Black, Asian and Ethnic minority heritage.”

In 2014, police forces across the country agreed to reforms that were intended to eliminate discrimination in stop and search.

That being said, the gap in Lincolnshire is by no means the worst in the country.

Across England and Wales, black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, which is again the biggest gap on record.

Black people were by far the most disproportionately stopped and searched ethnic group across the country, and the same is true in Lincolnshire.

However, people of “other” ethnicities, including Chinese, were four times as likely to be stopped and searched by police in our area as white people last year, while those of mixed heritage were twice as likely to be.

A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said: “The disproportionate ethnic split of stop searches is a national issue. We are below the average but there is still a significant disparity in the number of ethnic minority stops in our county. It is something we will continue to scrutinise intensely. Stop and search is an essential tool in the prevention and detection of crime but its use must be justifiable, responsible and proportionate.”