BLACK and Asian people in Gwent are five times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people, a Gwent Police Authority meeting heard.

Despite non-white people accounting for just 3.4 per cent of Gwent's population, figures show, per thousand, Asian people are 4.2 times more likely to be stopped and black people are 4.6 times more likely to be stopped than white people.

In 2009/10, there were 10,380 stop and searches in Gwent, 9,148 of these were white people. In 2010/11, police stopped 10,359 and 9,326 of these were white.

The number of stops on white people is deemed proportionate compared to the population but in the past two years, there were 1,298 more people from ethnic minorities stopped and searched than was proportional based on the percentage of the population they account for.

There were 713 'disproportionate' stops of ethnic minorities in 2009/10 and 585 in 2010/11.

Deputy Chief Constable Jeff Farrar said: "If you're black or Asian in Gwent, you are nearly five times more likely to be stopped/searched than if you're white. If we can't answer questions about why we're stopping more black and Asian people than white then potentially we are discriminating against people."

DCC Farrar said he did not want to tell his officers to stop searching people but nor could a disproportionate amount of stop and searches continue as it can be seen as police discriminating.

The force has drawn up a plan to improve areas when dealing with stop and searches, which includes basing stops on intelligence and information, ensuring officers are aware of their legal responsibilities, including equality legislation, and supervisors scrutinising the quality and nature of stops.

After the meeting, chief executive of the Newport-based South East Wales Regional Equality Council, David Phillips, said the higher number of stops is not surprising.

He added: "We have no objections to stop and searched as a tool to fighting crime. The communities we work with are as concerned to tackle crime as any other, but we do have concerns about the underlying assumptions behind the disproportionate use of stop and search on certain ethnic groups."