We use some essential cookies to make our website work. We’d like to set additional cookies so we can remember your preferences and understand how you use our site.
You can manage your preferences and cookie settings at any time by clicking on “Customise Cookies” below. For more information on how we use cookies, please see our Cookies notice.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Sorry, there was a technical problem. Please try again.
This site is a beta, which means it's a work in progress and we'll be adding more to it over the next few weeks. Your feedback helps us make things better, so please let us know what you think.
The purpose of the Lay Observer scheme is to give you the chance to accompany a police officer and hopefully see a stop and search from start to finish. This will only happen if the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect a person has a banned item on them.
The scheme looks to build trust between the police and public, and also promotes a two-way process where the public get to understand stop and search and our officers process in using this power.
To take part in the scheme you must meet the following criteria:
We'll consider your application based on why you want to take part. Ideally, you'll be:
Important: Please note the Lay Observer scheme isn't available to serving police officers or police community support officers
Please have the following details ready, if possible:
We'll review your application to check you're eligible for the scheme and then contact you to arrange a date for joining officers for the observation. It's important you give us your contact details so we can get in touch with you to make the necessary arrangements.
Please allow us a month to contact you regarding your application.
We need to make some checks regarding your application which is why we ask for certain details about you. For more information on how long we hold your data, view our privacy notice.
Average completion time: 5 minutes
Click 'Start' to begin the Lay Observer scheme application form (called Ride along application form).