iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

*NEWS* 'Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2026' shows: ⬆️ an 11% rise in stop-searches overall, mirrored in the number of arrests following searches ❓ a persistent recording gap in self-defined ethnicity of persons searched by police www.gov.uk/government/s... 🧵

gov.uk

Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2026

Statistics on stop and search, arrests for notifiable offences. This release will also include statistics on detentions under Section 135 and Section 136 of the Mental Health Act previously included i...

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

September 2026 newsletter: Child-centred policing, an immature concept 🗞️ New research suggests the idea is still in its infancy. But there may be limits to a version of procedural justice unable to deal with persistent racial profiling stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/september-...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

September 2026: Child-centred policing, an immature concept

Research on child-centred policing suggests the idea is still in its infancy. But there may be limits to a version of procedural justice unable to deal with persistent racial profiling

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Bristol Copwatch @bristolcopwatch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We're sharing a fundraiser for member, caseworker and speaker #JohnPegram, diagnosed with #PTSD from a 2021 #databreach caused by police. After over three years of fighting, he needs funds for #EMDR while his income recovers. #shareanddonate #WeCopWatch www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

justgiving.com

Help raise £1000 to Fund EMDR Therapy for PTSD Recovery – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Fund EMDR Therapy for PTSD Recovery. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

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Netpol @netpol.org · 07/09/2026

Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Brookes said: "it is important to note that we do not as a matter of course monitor peaceful protestors, and their political viewpoints are not taken into consideration." This is an absolute 100% lie www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Kent Police defend response to Port of Dover protest

An MP has questioned why Kent Police did not know beforehand about the protest on Saturday.

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Bristol Copwatch @bristolcopwatch.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/st-... #CommunitiesAgainstRacism 19/9/26 #JohnPegram of our core team is hosting a know your rights workshop for parents and families! It’s a vital event and we look forward to seeing you there! #WeCopWatch

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Sinai Fleary 🇬🇩🇻🇨 @sfleary1.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

NEW: Investigation launched following death of Black man in police custody in Croydon 🙏🏾 On 21 August, officers carrying out cell checks, found a 52-year-old man unresponsive. The Metropolitan Police has confirmed with me, the man was Black. www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news...

voice-online.co.uk

Investigation launched following death of Black man in police custody in Croydon - Voice Online

The Metropolitan Police say the case has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) - who are now investigating

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

August 2026 newsletter: Police confidence vs public safety 🗞️ ‘Mad’ reaction to exploratory proposals by the Green party to ban police use of Tasers and pepper spray is an exercise in how consent for officers to use force with impunity is manufactured stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/august-202...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

August 2026: Police confidence vs public safety

‘Mad’ reaction to exploratory proposals by the Green party to ban police use of Tasers and pepper spray is an exercise in how consent for officers to use force with impunity is manufactured

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

OPINION: Reports that the Met police achieved 'the highest find rate in the force’s history' for stop and search earlier this year need to be critically reported and framed in the correct context by media outlets www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

stop-watch.org

A critique of new 'highs' in Met stop-search figures

'Record find rate' figures reported in national press fail to tell the full story

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Streets Kitchen @streetskitchen.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

🚨A Metropolitan Police officer who said he hated #homeless people and "couldn't wait" to Taser someone has been sacked from the force... The 12th now from Charing Cross station since the panorama investigation! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Twelfth Met Police officer sacked over Charing Cross Panorama film

PC Lloyd Hunter was filmed during an undercover sting saying Tasering people was "just so much fun".

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Bristol Copwatch @bristolcopwatch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"Nine people died during or after contact with Avon and Somerset police last year – the joint fourth highest in the country." #WeCopWatch #SayTheirNames www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

bristolpost.co.uk

Nine people died after contact with Avon & Somerset Police

Avon and Somerset Police say they take safeguarding duties seriously

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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Artificial intelligence surveillance carries profound risks to human rights. Soon MPs will finally have a chance to reject the idea of total state surveillance, and put proper controls on this intrusive technology. We must follow the example of the EU and end this legal wild west.

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Serious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime or weapons offending, says Home Office evaluation Results from a 2-yr pilot reveal that only ONE weapon was recovered from searches under the power across the four trial police force areas www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

stop-watch.org

Serious Violence Reduction Orders have no impact on violent crime, evaluation says

Pilot costs £300,000; recovers only one weapon in two years

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Liberty @libertyhq.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Every police force in the country is using some form of facial recognition. But polling has suggested that 48% of people oppose scanning the faces of those walking on high streets when there is no suspected imminent threat. We urgently need safeguards on how this tech is used.

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Liberty @libertyhq.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The British Transport Police are extending their trial of facial recognition to London tube stations 🚨 The six month trial has already scanned over half a million people but resulted in zero matches and just one false flag. Yet they’re continuing to expand it's use...

bbc.co.uk

Facial recognition cameras to be trialled at London Tube stations

The British Transport Police says the technology will only identify those wanted by authorities.

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

July 2026 newsletter: Differential treatment, again 🗞️ Black boy roughly manhandled, handcuffed, and searched for playfighting with his white friends (who aren't) in one force, while officers from another boast about illegally stop-searching IC3 females stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/july-2026-...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

July 2026: Differential treatment, again

Excessive force used on another Black boy in London, Norfolk police caught on camera making racist (plus transphobic and other offensive) remarks, but ethnic disproportionality remains a mystery

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

June 2026 newsletter: Differential treatment 🗞️ Routine handcuffing overlooked as a fundamental problem with police-civilian interactions, while forces ramp up technological policing 'solutions' such as facial recognition and AI everywhere else you look stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/june-2026-...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

June 2026: Differential treatment

The commentariat and political classes lay the blame for police response to fatal stabbing in the wrong places, overlooking the disturbing phenomenon of routine handcuffing in the process

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HJA Civil Liberties @hjacivillibs.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The Met police is to expand its use of live facial recognition technology, first into London’s West End by Christmas and then into a further six areas next year, as critics say tens of thousands of people will be forced into ‘digital police lineup’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Met to expand use of live facial recognition into central London by Christmas

Technology to be used in six more areas next year as critics say tens of thousands of people will be forced into ‘digital police lineup’

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

'If you ask for my honest opinion, is there two-tier policing in Manchester, I will say to you absolutely not' Really? Perhaps he wants to tell that to the parents of Romani Gypsy and Irish Traveller children visiting a Xmas market in 2024 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... bsky.app/profile/stop...

bbc.co.uk

Greater Manchester Police accused of 'heavy-handed' dispersal response

Footage shared widely online shows screaming children being ushered on to trains at Manchester Victoria.

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Greater Manchester police chief thinks his force has 'uncritically adopted language that persuades people that perhaps we are not as impartial as we should be' www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

GMP chief addresses two-tier policing concerns after Nowak murder

Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson acknowledges the perception that not everybody is treated equally.

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP @bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Monday night’s brutal knife attack rightly drew universal censure. We are now seeing a pattern of coordinated far right activists hijacking tragic and emotive incidents to incite violence against migrants and minoritised communities.

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JUSTICE @justicehq.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Not a single UK law mentions artificial intelligence by name. In this week's podcast, Ellen Lefley, JUSTICE’s deputy legal director, warns that the lack of national legislation governing the use of AI is putting civil liberties at risk. 🎧📺 Watch or listen here: justice.org.uk/news/nationa...

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

So the police force accused by Nigel Farage of "anti-white racism" is over five times more likely to target black people for stop and searches than white people The figure is higher than the average for England and has got worse over recent years www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Nowak murder: police accused of ‘anti-white bias’ five times more likely to stop black people

Hampshire force whose officers responded to the murder of 18-year-old has a higher than average racial disparity

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

May 2026 newsletter: Independent of scrutiny 🗞️ New criminal justice legislation introduced giving officers ever-greater discretion in the hope that it'll raise public confidence in policing, somehow stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/may-2026-i...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

May 2026: Independent of scrutiny

New criminal justice legislation gives law enforcement ever greater discretion to do whatever they want to combat crime. Or can, it depends on your point of view

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HJA Civil Liberties @hjacivillibs.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

A mother has made a complaint against Kent Police after her 12-year-old son told her he had been handcuffed by police after “innocently playing with an abandoned stop sign” www.thecommunityreporter.co.uk/p/boy-12-han...

thecommunityreporter.co.uk

Boy, 12, handcuffed and searched after 'innocently playing with abandoned stop sign'

The boy's mother says that her "worst fear has come true' following the incident

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HJA Civil Liberties @hjacivillibs.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

London mayor Sadiq Khan has blocked a £50m Met police deal with Palantir citing a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules and noting a risk of becoming locked into Palantir’s technology www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

London mayor Sadiq Khan blocks £50m Met police deal with Palantir

Exclusive: Scotland Yard had been in talks to use Palantir’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis

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Liberty @libertyhq.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

What’s actually going on with digital ID? We’ve read through and responded to the Government’s public consultation that closed last week. There’s a huge gap between the government’s claims that its plans for digital ID centre privacy and control, and the system it has actually proposed.

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Kids of Colour @kidsofcolourhq.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

THE EVERYDAY AUDACITY OF POLICING WE ARE NO LONGER SHOCKED.

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Netpol @netpol.org · 01/05/2026

The Metropolitan Police wants everyone to believe that the right to stamp on a mentally ill man's head is vital and necessary to maintain the public's fragile confidence in police officers, and that no other arguments are acceptable www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Met chief says Zack Polanski undermined police with Golders Green post

Mark Rowley says Green leader’s comments risk denting confidence of officers confronting ‘dangerous’ suspects

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

April 2026 newsletter: 🗞 High court ruling greenlights live facial recognition 🗞 Police Race Action Plan in limbo after 5 yrs of thoughts+prayers 🗞 2-yr SVRO pilot found weapons, once 🗞 Report finds Black children strip searched 8x > than white children stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/april-2026...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

April 2026: The elephant in the courtroom

As the watchful eye of facial recognition cameras extends its reach across England and Wales, racialised communities are at heightened risk of suffering from its flaws

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Initial thoughts on Thompson & Carlo v the Met - live facial recognition case handed down yesterday. Tl;dr - huge PR win for the Met. No questions. But the key human rights issues unaddressed. Police LFR not arbitrary. But no comment on whether it is necessary. aihumanrights.blog/2026/04/22/2...

aihumanrights.blog

22 April 2026

Good morning friends, colleagues, everyone else! Its an absolutely gorgeous spring morning in London (for now at least). The big news this week, in the UK at least, is the judgment in Big Brother W…

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Runnymede Trust @runnymedetrust.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

What actually keeps us safe? Drawing on polling of over 5,000 people across Britain, we found that over half of the public believe investing in social and public services would do more to prevent crime than increasing police numbers or powers

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

✍️ *NEW* blogpost argues that in light of the recent scandal into police federation bosses' pay, the broader issue of police expenditure of funds should be examined www.stop-watch.org/news-opinion...

stop-watch.org

Police funding – money down the drain?

In light of recent scandals into police federation bosses' pay, the broader issue of police expenditure of funds should be examined

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Matt Ashby @mattashby.com · 15/04/2026

Serious Violence Reduction Orders (introduced in 2022) didn’t actually reduce serious violence – the people given an order in court were just as likely to commit further violent crimes as those who weren’t.

gov.uk

Serious Violence Reduction Orders independent evaluation report

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

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Ellen Halliday @ellenhalliday.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Police forces are deploying facial recognition tech across the country. There are serious concerns about the implications.... Mark Wilding from Liberty Investigates @libertyhq.bsky.social joined me on this week's @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast. Tune in! www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

The rise of facial recognition policing

Investigative journalist Mark Wilding explains new surveillance technology. Could it reverse the presumption of innocence?

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Bristol Copwatch @bristolcopwatch.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

www.stop-watch.org/what-we-do/r... #StopWatch has released a guide for bystander intervention. Discover how to effectively support others during stop and search situations. #WeCopWatch

stop-watch.org

StopWatch bystanders guide

StopWatch has created a guide on how to safely be an active bystander during a stop and search

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

The use of dogs as a police tactic has increased in frequency and severity – disproportionately affecting Black communities – with scant evidence of any accountability when concerns are raised. www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news...

voice-online.co.uk

Police dog deployments are rising sharply, with Black people disproportionately subjected to force and bites - Voice Online

Home Office use of force data shows police dog deployments against Black people was 2.7 times more often than white people.

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Esmée Fairbairn Foundation @esmeefairbairn.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

✨ Following a review of our approach to racial justice by Chrisann Jarrett published last year, we wanted to provide an update on the five actions we committed to, and to share our next steps. 👉 Read more: esmeefairbairn.org.uk/latest-news/...

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Netpol @netpol.org · 17/03/2026

Today the unaccountable Metropolitan Police Commissioner attacks human rights laws (that police largely ignore) for allegedly making protest policing "untenable", because of their "complexity". This is another reason why you should join the protest outside London City Hall, a week today on 24 March

Telegraph headline: "Rowley: Human rights laws making policing of protests ‘untenable’".

Subheading: "Met Police chief calls on Parliament to ‘redraw the lines’ on public order legislation"

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Netpol @netpol.org · 12/03/2026

What is critical, as @robevansgdn.bsky.social points out, is the Met justified spying on the Menezes family as 'incidental' to targeting what Patricia called "decent and honourable people" supporting her included one of Netpol's founders, Newham Monitoring Project www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Undercover officers spied on family of innocent man shot dead by Met police, inquiry told

Surveillance took place while grieving family of Jean Charles de Menezes was seeking to hold Met accountable

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

After Sarah Everard, after Nicole Stillman and Bibaa Henry, after Child Q, after Zayna Iman, after the spycops revelations, and more, the government is still willing to leave girls and women more vulnerable to police abuse than ever. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

theguardian.com

Proposed law change will protect abusive men who push women to suicide, campaigners warn

Charity criticises new measures that would make it harder for inquests to pass verdict of unlawful killing

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10/03/2026

“In a dozen instances, misreads by Flock's automated license plate readers, or a lack of verification by officers, resulted in people who hadn't committed crimes being stopped at gunpoint, sent to jail, or mauled by a police dog, among other outcomes.”

businessinsider.com

AI cameras are everywhere — and people are paying the price for their mistakes

Flock Safety's license plate readers are used by police in thousands of communities. When the cameras make mistakes, the consequences can be severe.

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Our 'colour of injustice' report (2017) found that the Met saw Black ppl as suspicious enough to be racially profiled wherever they went in London, especially in affluent areas. In 2026, officer prejudices are still being indulged. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/mar...

theguardian.com

Black people up to 48 times more likely to be stopped and searched in richest areas of London

Exclusive: Research found extreme disproportion in use of police power in districts such as Richmond-upon-Thames

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

'... the missing data could potentially hamper the force's ability to catch criminals in their own ranks.' 🤔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Metropolitan Police DNA database missing nearly half of officers

The databases are in place to prevent officers from accidentally contaminating crime scenes.

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

On section 60AA (covering your face): check out the excellent briefing from @netpol.org telling you everything you need to know. Remember! The police DO NOT have the right to demand the removal of any face coverings in public UNLESS a section 60AA order is in place 😷 netpol.org/2026/02/27/s...

netpol.org

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StopWatch @stopwatchuk.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

February 2026 newsletter: 🗞 Government promises 'tailored support' for youth caught in possession of a knife 🗞 Vetting of police officers still not up to standard 🗞 Pioneering research shines spotlight on ‘police pursuit killings’ @irrnews.bsky.social stopwatchuk.substack.com/p/february-2...

stopwatchuk.substack.com

February 2026: Just as much carrot as stick

Government takes measured stance on youth violence prevention; police chiefs admit racial bias in AI-enabled surveillance tech... press on with adoption anyway

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Bristol Copwatch @bristolcopwatch.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

"Anti-racist policing" Join us at #CommunitiesForJustice as we discuss why we must say #NoToSection60 and challenge disproportionate and racist policing. #PACE @stopwatchuk.bsky.social @thebristolcable.bsky.social @netpol.org @libertyhq.bsky.social www.police.uk/pu/your-area...

police.uk

Stop and search

Number of stop and searches by outcome per month.

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