StopWatch

What StopWatch does

StopWatch is a UK-registered charity (No. 1161908) founded in 2010 that challenges the disproportionate use of stop and search powers by police in England and Wales, with a particular focus on the impact of those powers on racialised communities. The organisation operates as a coalition of academics, activists, marginalised youth, and legal experts, combining research, evidence-based policy advocacy, legal support, and strategic litigation. Its primary constituents are communities disproportionately affected by stop and search — primarily Black, Asian, and other minoritised ethnic groups — alongside policymakers, academics, journalists, and individuals who have been subjected to stop and search encounters and seek legal recourse or support.

StopWatch delivers its mission through a portfolio of advocacy, research, and community-engagement services rather than a commercial product suite. Core assets include an Interactive Stop and Search Tracker Dashboard that visualises stop and search data for every police force in England and Wales (referenced alongside over 700,000 incidents analysed annually), a pocket-sized StopWatch Search Card informing individuals of their rights during police encounters, an Experiences Platform that aggregates personal testimonies, and the Girls and Young Women's Research Project — a national peer-led research initiative delivered with the University of Greenwich to inform policy advocacy. All StopWatch-produced text and publications are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence, supporting dissemination and reuse by partner organisations and the public.

The organisation is funded primarily through charitable grants from foundations including AB Charitable Trust, Esmée Fairbairn, the Human Rights Fund, and the Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund, supplemented by individual donations. Its go-to-market is community-led: StopWatch mobilises grassroots coalitions, partners with legal organisations such as Liberty and Inquest, coordinates with the Criminal Justice Alliance, and engages Parliament and policymakers directly. Operations are based at a single London headquarters at 2 Langley Lane, SW8 1GB, with field research teams active across London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Nottingham.

Name

StopWatch

Legal name

StopWatch

Website

https://www.stop-watch.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

StopWatch is a UK-registered charity (founded 2010) that challenges disproportionate stop and search policing through research, policy advocacy, legal support, and an interactive data dashboard, serving racialised communities, policymakers, and individuals across England and Wales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Charitable Grants and Donations: StopWatch operates as a registered UK charity (No. 1161908) funded primarily through grants from charitable trusts and foundations. The organization receives funding from AB Charitable Trust, Esmée Fairbairn, Human Rights Fund, and Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund. Additional revenue comes from individual donations and potentially ShareGift donations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

StopWatch is a nonprofit advocacy organization that challenges the disproportionate use of stop and search powers by police against racialized communities in England and Wales. It provides evidence-based policy advocacy, legal advocacy and support to individuals seeking complaints, a national interactive data dashboard, free rights resources including a pocket-sized search card, an experiences platform for collecting lived testimonies, and targeted research projects. The organization is funded by charitable grants and donations and offers its resources free of charge.

Product overview

StopWatch is a coalition organization offering a suite of advocacy, research, and community engagement services rather than a traditional technology product. Its core offerings include an Interactive Stop and Search Tracker Dashboard for public data access, a StopWatch Search Card providing rights information, an Experiences Platform for sharing personal testimonies, and a Girls and Young Women's Research Project for policy-focused research. Supporting services include policy advocacy, legal advocacy, newsletter subscription, and a paid internship programme. These services work together to advance StopWatch's mission of challenging police use of stop and search powers through evidence-based advocacy and community empowerment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Policy Advocacy Services Evidence-based policy advocacy providing insights over policing issues, advocating for positions from an evidence base of data and the lived experiences of racialised communities. Includes joint responses to government plans on police accountability, parliamentary engagement, and policy reform campaigns.
• Legal Advocacy Services Legal support for individuals to make complaints or seek legal advice, including strategic litigation, supporting those affected by stop and search. Includes complaint assistance, representation, and youth and community engagement on legal rights.
• Interactive Stop and Search Tracker Dashboard An interactive data dashboard displaying stop and search statistics for every police force in England and Wales, enabling the public to view and analyze policing data at a national level.
• StopWatch Search Card A pocket-sized card informing individuals of their rights during a stop and search encounter, what police should and should not do, and how to hold police accountable. Distributed free of charge upon request.
• Experiences Platform A platform gathering and sharing personal testimonies of stop and search experiences from around the country, giving affected individuals a voice.
• Girls and Young Women's Research Project A national research project conducted by young women researchers interviewing peers about their experiences of stop and search, with findings used for policy advocacy.
• StopWatch Newsletter Subscription A newsletter subscription service (via Substack) providing regular updates on StopWatch activities and opportunities for public involvement.
• Paid Internship Programme A paid internship for those from underrepresented groups to work with StopWatch staff on holding the police to account, with roles in campaigns, research, policy, legal research, and community outreach.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reframed sector and public understanding of stop and search and disproportionate policing over 15 years
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• LibertymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint legal challenge with Liberty against government plans for police accountability. Both organizations collaborated on challenging Section 60 expansions and police accountability measures.
• InquestmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner representing victims of police power misuse. Jointly issued responses to government plans on police accountability, including letter to Home Secretary.
• University of GreenwichcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner for the Girls and Young Women's Research Project. Dr Louise Owusu-Kwarteng, associate dean at Greenwich University, trained young women researchers for the project.
• Criminal Justice AlliancemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork partner of 160 organizations. Jointly launched super-complaint about police use of suspicionless stop and search powers under Section 60.
• Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity organization that administers the Suffolk Stop and Search Reference Group, conducting dip-sampling of stop and search forms and community scrutiny of police practices.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• INQUEST: UK charity providing expertise on deaths in custody and police-related deaths, supporting bereaved families and campaigning for accountability. INQUEST is a formal StopWatch coalition partner on police accountability issues and addresses overlapping harms from state power.
• Liberty: UK civil liberties and human rights organization that campaigns on policing, protest rights, and state accountability. Liberty is a formal StopWatch partner on Section 60 legal challenges and shares a closely overlapping remit on police powers and civil liberties advocacy.
• Netpol (Network for Police Monitoring): UK network supporting community monitoring of police stop and search, protest policing, and surveillance practices. Netpol addresses the same core subject matter as StopWatch and serves overlapping grassroots and civil liberties audiences.
• Criminal Justice Alliance: UK coalition of 160+ organizations working on criminal justice reform, including stop and search. As a formal StopWatch partner on the Section 60 super-complaint, it shares overlapping reform goals and constituency in policing accountability advocacy.

Broad incumbents

• Howard League for Penal Reform: The UK's oldest human rights organization, operating across the full criminal justice system including policing, sentencing, and prisons. While broader in scope than StopWatch, it competes for similar civil liberties funding and engages overlapping policymakers and academics on policing reform.
• Amnesty International UK: UK arm of a global human rights organization working on policing, discrimination, and civil liberties. Amnesty UK addresses stop and search as part of a broader human rights portfolio and competes for institutional donor attention in the same space as StopWatch.
• Release: UK charity focused on drugs, policing of drug possession, and criminal justice, with overlap on stop and search as a tool frequently deployed for drug-related encounters. Release shares StopWatch's interest in disproportionate policing and operates in adjacent civil liberties advocacy.

Emerging players

• Big Brother Watch: UK civil liberties organization focused on state surveillance, data-driven policing, and facial recognition. Big Brother Watch addresses an adjacent niche — emerging policing technologies — that StopWatch is expanding into via its policy lead's specialization in data-driven technologies.
• Just for Kids Law: UK children's rights organization providing legal advocacy and representation to young people in conflict with the law, including in stop and search encounters. It overlaps with StopWatch's youth-focused engagement and Girls and Young Women's Research Project.
• Statewatch: UK/EU civil liberties monitor producing analysis and commentary on state surveillance, policing, and civil liberties policy. Statewatch addresses an adjacent niche — monitoring policing technologies and EU/UK policy frameworks — that overlaps with StopWatch's data-driven policing focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/stopwatchuk
• Facebookfacebook.com/StopWatchUK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stopwatchuk

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about StopWatch