BLACK people in Hounslow are almost five times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than a white pedestrian.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission this week launched a report highlighting the police forces in England that are "disproportionately using their stop and search powers."
Out of the London borough's Hounslow's police are 11th worst for stopping significantly more black people than white people and the force are also 1.5 times more likely to stop an Asian person that a white.
The evidence suggests racial stereotyping and discrimination are significant factors behind the higher rates of stops and searches for black and Asian people than white people.
Speaking about the evidence which suggests racial stereotyping and discrimination, Commissioner Simon Woolley from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "It is unrealistic and unhelpful to demand that policing should be perfect.
"However, police services should strive to work fairly and effectively while respecting basic human rights and discrimination law. Only then can they be said to be ‘good enough’."
Across the borough there were 192 black people stopped and searched per 1,000 Hounslow residents in 2007/8. The rate for Asian people was 65 per 1,000 and it was 42 per 1,000 for white people.
However Andy Atkinson, vice chair of the Hounslow Community Police Consultative Group believes the figures are not reflective of a true problem.
"At a meeting last night a Hounslow inspector shifted through complaints made about stop and searches and there were hardly any," he said.
"We are risking having our police stigmatised. It's a slippery path, we don't want to end up with police who are scared to stop someone from an ethnic minority because of fear of being accused of racism."
Mr Atkinson believes the the large number of Asian people in Hounslow town centre also plays an important part in the figures.
He said: "The police are most active doing stop and searches in the town centres. If you go down Hounslow High street on a Friday or Saturday and pick someone at random, the chances are they are going to be Asian."
Commissioner Woolley said: "The commission will be looking closely at this research and will be writing to police forces with the most concerning statistics to gain a better understanding of how they are meeting their obligations under the Race Relations Act.
"We cannot rule out taking legal action against some police forces."
