Recent data analysis by Lawtons Solicitors revealed that London Bridge railway and underground stations see the highest recorded number of stop and searches of all UK stations, writes Abigail Finney..
The area saw 205 stop and searches between January and March 2025, which equates to six searches per week.
Other London locations, including Stratford railway station, Oxford Circus underground station and West Ham underground station, are also listed in the five highest ranking stations for stop and searches.
Almost half of these searches involved looking for bladed articles or offensive weapons, whilst over a third of searches were for stolen goods. Overall, 35% of searches resulted in objects being found.
“Stop and search enforcement is not without its controversy, with a detaining officer’s grounds for ‘reasonable suspicion’ often being contested as subjective or discriminatory,” Stephen Halloran, Criminal Solicitor and Managing Partner at Lawtons Solicitors, said. Lawtons Solicitors is a long-established criminal defense specialist firm.
“The officer’s suspicion must be formed from an objective basis, informed by specific facts, or intelligence related to the likelihood of finding the object in question. That means you cannot be stopped purely due to your race, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, religion, or faith.”
The findings follow a 15% increase in serious offenses involving a knife in London year-on-year, as British Transport Police (BTP) look to crack down on bladed article possession in 2025.
There were over 14,600 uses of police force at railway or underground stations in 2024, a slight increase from 14,450 in 2023, as police respond to the rise in knife-related crimes across the UK.
A use of force is defined as a situation in which a police officer uses any ‘force tactics’, including handcuffing, limb or body restraints, use of equipment such as batons or irritant spray and use of dogs.
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