The number of black and Asian people stopped and searched by the police has increased by more than 70% over the past five years, according to Ministry of Justice figures.
They show that more than 310,000 black and Asian people were searched by the police on the streets in 2008/09, compared with 178,000 in 2004/05.
The annual statistics on race and the criminal justice system reveal that black people are now seven times more likely to be stopped by the police than white people. This is a higher stop and search ratio than that recorded before the publication in 1999 of the inquiry report into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The report concluded that the overuse of stop and search had created significant mistrust in minority ethnic communities.
The latest official figures show that the use of stop and search under section one of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act rose 10% in the past year to 1,142,763 searches. Of those, 15% were of black people, 9% of Asian people, 3% of mixed ethnicity and 1% were of Chinese background. Across the country the rate of stop and search per 1,000 population for black people compared with white, ranged from 9.1 times in Avon and Somerset to 0.7 in Cumbria and Durham, where the ratio of white people stopped was actually higher.
Justice ministry statisticians said the figures partly reflected the much greater use of stop and search by the Metropolitan police in London, where 54% of the black community live. Although the Met covered only 14% of the population of England and Wales, their officers carried out 42% of all stop and searches.
However, the figures show that the use of stop and search has increased across all ethnic groups in each year between 2004/05 and 2008/09: "The number of white people being stopped and searched increased by just under 30% between 2004/05 and 2008/09, while the number of black and Asian people being stopped and searched increased by over 70%," said the bulletin.
The total use of stop and search has risen from 818,000 five years ago to 1,142,763 last year.
The justice ministry's publication Race and the Criminal Justice System shows that black people continue to be disproportionately involved at nearly every stage of the process. The figures for 2008/09 show there were three times more arrests of black people than white people, based on per 1,000 population figures.
The police minister, Nick Herbert, said it was unacceptable for an individual to be targeted because of their race: "Stop and search is an important tool for the police, but it is essential powers are used fairly and with the support of the community to protect the public."