Every young black male in Bermuda is subject to being picked up by police multiple times due to the use of police stop and search laws, according to statistician Cordell Riley.“Theoretically, every black male between the ages of 18 to 36 could be stopped four times,” Mr Riley said after a brief analysis of Police statistics.“We know there’s a lot of double counting in those data. And so therefore we know there are people being stopped five, six, seven and eight times.”He noted that the number of stop and searches had been on an uphill climb from less than 1,000 in 2008, 3,700 in 2009, and around 9,500 last year to likely 19,000 by the end of this year.He said 90 percent were black and 85 percent were male. And 64 percent were between 18 and 36.Mr Riley, the president of Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda, said he personally knew of people who had been stopped more than five times.“None of them have been arrested. So the question I would put forward is what is the impact of stopping so many people? How many were arrested? How many were found with guns? How many were found with illegal paraphernalia?” Mr Riley asked.“What is the causality of so many searches? In other words could you be as effective by stopping less?”He was speaking at the Centre for Justice’s forum on police stop and search powers held at St Paul’s Centennial Hall on Wednesday night.CURB believes the law, Section 315F of the Criminal Code which allows police to search vehicles and people in areas they deem prone to serious violence, is excessive. And Mr Riley pointed out that it was similar to a UK anti-terrorism law which has been thrown out by the European Court of Human Rights.“As a social justice organisation, we are very concerned about what we could be creating by having all these people engaged and no evidence to show that these laws are actually working.”Mr Riley also questioned whether the practice carried a negative social impact, a theme picked up by youth activist Carlton Simmons.He said that police use of the powers could net young people with small amounts of marijuana which could have disastrous consequences if they are charged in court and put on the US Stop List.“I don’t think stop and search law is intended to have this effect on young black men or young men in particular, but this is the effect it is having,” he said.“And we need to ask ourselves, is this what we want to happen?”Mr Simmons said: “People are being introduced to the criminal system and they are not actually criminals.”He suggested that the practice may also negatively impact family members travelling with someone who is stopped.“Bermuda cannot afford to continue on this path,” he said.“It’s not enough to say we did this for the sake of gang violence, if we look up 10 years from now, 15 years from now, we’ve eroded away the fabric of our families.”