Stop and search under section 1 PACE explained

Quick answer

Under s.1 PACE, a constable can detain and search a person or vehicle for stolen or prohibited articles in a place the public can access, or another place people have ready access to that is not a dwelling (s.1(1)). You need reasonable grounds to suspect you will find one (s.1(3)). Before you start, you must take reasonable steps to give the person the information in s.2(3) and Code A paragraph 3.8, and you must not begin until you have (s.2(2)). Afterwards you must make a record unless that is not practicable (s.3(1)). In public, you cannot require anyone to remove more than an outer coat, jacket or gloves (s.2(9)(a)).

General information, not legal advice. Check the current law and your force policy.

What s.1 covers

Section 1(2) lets a constable search any person or vehicle, and anything in or on a vehicle, and detain them for that purpose. The things you can search for are:

• stolen articles
• prohibited articles
• articles linked to an offence under s.139 or s.139AA of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, such as bladed or pointed articles (s.1(8A))
• corrosive substances linked to s.6 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (s.1(8AA))
• fireworks possessed in breach of fireworks regulations (s.1(8B))

Controlled drugs are not on this list. A drugs search is under s.23 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and the record must give the object in terms of that power (Code A paragraph 4.3(c)).

An article is prohibited under s.1(7) if it is an offensive weapon, or it is made or adapted for use in connection with burglary, theft, taking a conveyance without authority (s.12 Theft Act 1968), fraud under s.1 Fraud Act 2006 or criminal damage under s.1 Criminal Damage Act 1971, or the person who has it intends it for such use by them or someone else. Section 1(8)(f) to (l) adds some disruption and protest offences, including public nuisance and locking on. An offensive weapon is anything made or adapted to injure people, or intended by the person carrying it for that use (s.1(9)). You may seize what you find if you reasonably suspect it is one of these (s.1(6)).

In a garden or yard of a dwelling, or other land used with it, you may search a person only if you have reasonable grounds for believing both that they do not live there and that they are not there with the express or implied permission of someone who lives there (s.1(4)). Section 1(5) applies the same rule to vehicles.

Reasonable grounds

Code A paragraph 2.2 sets a two-part test. You must genuinely suspect you will find the object of the search, and the suspicion must be reasonable: based on facts, information or intelligence that would lead a reasonable person to the same conclusion. You must be able to explain it by reference to information about the person, or some specific behaviour by them.

Paragraph 2.2A adds that the power depends on the likelihood the person has the item, not on suspecting them of an offence. You can search someone you have reasonable grounds to suspect is in innocent possession, even where there would be no power of arrest. Consent is not a power. You must not search someone who agrees to it unless a power applies. The only exception is a search with consent as a condition of entry to sports grounds or other premises (paragraph 1.5).

Where grounds come from:

• Information or intelligence, such as a report of a person seen carrying an article, or a crime where such an article would be evidence (paragraph 2.4).
• Behaviour, such as someone on the street at night obviously trying to hide something. If you rely on nervousness or acting suspiciously, you must be able to explain which specific parts of their behaviour you saw and why they made you suspect (paragraph 2.6B).
• Membership of a group, but only with reliable information or intelligence that members habitually carry knives unlawfully or weapons and wear a distinctive item of clothing or other mark to identify themselves (paragraph 2.6).

What does not count

Paragraph 2.2B says that, without a description from information or intelligence, none of these can be the reason to stop and search, alone or combined with anything else:

• physical appearance linked to a protected characteristic such as age, race, religion or sex
• a previous conviction
• generalisations or stereotypes about groups being more likely to offend

Other things the Code rules out:

• A hunch or instinct that cannot be explained to an objective observer (paragraph 2.6B).
• Grounds supplied after the event by questioning during the detention, or by a refusal to answer. Questioning can confirm or dispel the grounds you already had (paragraph 2.9).

If questioning dispels your suspicion, no search may take place and, with no other power to detain, the person is free to leave and must be told so (paragraph 2.10).

Before the search: the GOWISELY points

GOWISELY is the memory aid many officers use. It is not in the Code, but it maps onto s.2(3) and Code A paragraph 3.8. Before the search you must take reasonable steps to give:

You must not start until you have done this (s.2(2)), and evidence from a search may be open to challenge if the Code is not followed (Code A paragraph 1.6). For an unattended vehicle you leave a notice instead (s.2(6)). If the person may not understand, take reasonable steps to explain, using anyone with them who can interpret (paragraph 3.11).

Doing the search

• Be courteous and seek co-operation first, even if the person objects. You may use reasonable force only as a last resort, once it is clear they are unwilling to co-operate or resist (paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2).
• Keep the detention short. Section 2(8) allows the time reasonably required to search at or near where they were first detained.
• Keep the search in line with your grounds. If you saw an item go into a pocket, with no other grounds and no chance for it to be moved, confine the search to that pocket. For a small article that can be hidden anywhere on the person, a more extensive search may be needed (paragraph 3.3).

Removing clothing in public

Section 2(9)(a) and Code A paragraph 3.5 say there is no power to require a person to remove any clothing in public other than an outer coat, jacket or gloves. The exception is an item worn to conceal identity, under s.60AA Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. In public you may only examine outer garments superficially, though you can go in outer pockets, feel round collars, socks and shoes, and search hair, if reasonably necessary (paragraph 3.5). A street counts as public even if it is empty. You can ask someone to remove more voluntarily, but you cannot require it (Note 7).

A more thorough search, such as removing a T-shirt, must be out of public view, for example in a police van or a nearby police station. A search involving more than an outer coat, jacket, gloves, headgear or footwear, or any other item concealing identity, must be by an officer of the same sex, and not in front of anyone of the opposite sex unless the person specifically asks (paragraph 3.6). Exposure of intimate parts is only allowed at a nearby police station or other nearby place out of public view (not a police vehicle), never as a routine extension of a search that found nothing, and under paragraph 11 of Annex A to Code C. An intimate search can never be carried out under a stop and search power (paragraph 3.7).

Vehicles

• The person in charge of the vehicle is the person you give the information to (s.2(5)(b)).
• An officer not in uniform cannot stop a vehicle under this power (s.2(9)(b)).
• For an unattended vehicle, leave a notice inside it (unless that would damage it) saying it was searched, your station, that compensation for damage can be claimed there, and how to get the record. Leave the vehicle secure if practicable (s.2(6) and (7); Code A paragraphs 4.8 to 4.10).

Records

Section 3(1) requires a written record unless it is not practicable. Code A paragraph 4.1 is stricter: if the person is not arrested and taken to a police station, a record must be made unless exceptional circumstances make it wholly impracticable, such as public disorder or an urgent call elsewhere. Make it on the spot, or as soon as practicable after (s.3(2)(b)). If the person is arrested and taken to a police station, the searching officer makes sure the record goes into the custody record (s.3(2)(a); paragraph 4.2B).

The record must show the object of the search, the grounds, the date, time and place, the officer’s identity, and the person’s ethnicity as they describe it and, if different, as you perceive it (s.3(6) and (6A); Code A paragraph 4.3), though not ethnicity for an unattended vehicle. Give the grounds briefly but informatively, by reference to information or intelligence about the person or their specific behaviour (paragraph 4.6). You do not need the person’s name, address or date of birth, and should not ask for them for the record (paragraph 4.3A).

The person is entitled to a copy if they ask within 3 months (s.3(7) and (9)). If you make the record there and then, offer a copy or a receipt that explains how to get the full record (paragraph 4.2). Misuse of the powers can lead to disciplinary action (paragraphs 1.4, 5.5 and 5.6).

Common mistakes

• Writing grounds such as “acting suspiciously”, “intelligence” or “high crime area” with no detail of what you saw or what the information was.
• Searching wider than your grounds can explain.
• Recording only your perception of ethnicity, not the person’s own description.

Questions officers ask

Can I stop someone to find grounds for a search?

No. Code A paragraph 2.11 says there is no power to stop or detain a person in order to find grounds. If grounds emerge during a conversation, you can then detain them to search, but before you start you must tell them they are being detained for a search and follow paragraphs 3.8 to 3.11.

Do I have to record a search if nothing is found?

Yes. A record is needed whether or not anything is found, unless exceptional circumstances make it wholly impracticable (Code A paragraph 4.1). If your questions removed the need to search and no search took place, no record is needed (paragraph 4.7).

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Last checked 31 October 2026 against legislation.gov.uk and PACE Code A on GOV.UK. General information for officers, not legal advice: check the current law and your force policy.