Get Info » Stop & Search: Your Rights » Your right to a form

If you are stopped or searched the officer must fill in a form and give it to you straightaway unless, for example, they are called away to an emergency. In this case you can get a copy from a police station anytime within 12 months.

The officer must write down:

your name or a description of you (only if you are searched);
your self-defined ethnic background; when and where you were stopped or searched;
why you were stopped or searched;
if they are taking any action;
the names and/or numbers of the officers; and if you were searched, what they were looking for and anything they found.

The police will ask you for your name, address and date of birth. You do not have to give this information if you don't want to, unless the police say they are reporting you for an offence.

If this is the case you could be arrested if you don't tell them. You will also be asked to say what your ethnic background is from a list of the national census categories which the officer will show to you (see National census categories). You do not have to say what it is if you don't want to. But this information is used to show if the police are stopping or searching people just because of their race or ethnicity.