@YStopUK Presents: Y‑Stop a Film on Stop and Search

“Stop and search is degrad­ing. I feel humi­li­ated in front of oth­er people, as if I’m a thug”

Y‑Stop is the product of one year’s con­sulta­tion with youth groups across the coun­try to find out the kind of prob­lems they face dur­ing stop and search, why they do not com­plain when mis­treated by police, and come up with solu­tions for young people to pro­tect them­selves from the neg­at­ive impact of stop and search.

1,011,533 searches were con­duc­ted in Eng­land and Wales last year and it is estim­ated that a quarter of these are on minors aged 17 years and under. Young con­sul­tees shared their fear and anxi­ety when police approach them, how stop and search humi­li­ates them and affects their sense of self-worth, and their struggle with repeatedly bot­tling their frustration.

“Stop and search is not just the inva­sion into young people’s lives and pri­vacy, but also the inva­sion into our psyche” says Jay Jay Spinks, a youth mem­ber of the stop and search cam­paign group Stop­Watch. “As a res­ult of being stopped and searched so much, the trauma left behind always has me wor­ry­ing when I see police cars, always hav­ing to pre­pare a reas­on for being in the loc­a­tion I’m in because not hav­ing an answer ready could lead to more ques­tions and allegations”

Y‑Stop has been designed by young people them­selves and provides train­ing and tools to exer­cise their rights and hold police to account.

“Instead of expect­ing young people to remem­ber the law in what is a stress­ful and fright­en­ing situ­ation, Y‑Stop equips them with prac­tic­al skills to com­mu­nic­ate more effect­ively with police and ulti­mately end the encounter quick­er,” explains Nata­sha Dhumma from the drugs char­ity Release who coordin­ates Y‑Stop. “It is based on key prin­ciples that they can apply dur­ing a stop and search to act­ively influ­ence the out­come and uphold their rights rather than feel­ing like pass­ive victims”.

The Y‑Stop film was made by Fully Focused Pro­duc­tions, a youth-led media organ­isa­tion. It stars Per­celle Ascott (Man­dem on the Wall), Dani­elle Vital­is (Young­ers) and Ricky Groves (East­enders) and is dir­ec­ted by Teddy Nygh (Riot From Wrong).

For more inform­a­tion please vis­it http://y‑stop.org/

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Gata Malandra

Edit­or / Research­er at No Bounds

Gata is a music and arts lov­er, stud­ied anthro­po­logy, art man­age­ment and media pro­duc­tion ded­ic­at­ing most of her time to cre­at­ive pro­jects pro­duced by No Bounds.

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