HUNDREDS of officers from six forces - including Cleveland - are taking part in a training pilot exercise to help improve stop-and-search techniques.

It seeks to find out how fairly and effectively the power is being used.

The move comes as the family of 15-year-old Alan Cartwright, who was stabbed to death in north London, call for more police stop and searches to curb knife crime.

The initiative by the College of Policing involves more than 1,300 officers from the Metropolitan Police Service, Cleveland, Sussex, Thames Valley and Greater Manchester forces, and the British Transport Police.

About 220 officers from each were chosen to take part in the pilot, which was designed with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (ERHRC).

Half of those officers will get the training while the other half will not be trained and will continue with business-as-usual.

The impact of the training will be analysed by the college and independent researchers to establish if the training changes the way officers approach stop and search, if the "hit rates" improve (where an item is found on a person) and if the quality of the grounds for stopping someone have improved.

Richard Bennett, head of uniformed policing at the college, said: "We know the public support the police use of stop and search powers especially where the powers are used to keep them safe.

"The challenge now is to make stop and searches more effective because high numbers of negative searches can help to create a view that they are unfair and constitute a disproportionate response from police.

"The training will help officers to recognise unconscious bias and monitor how they make decisions about the use of stop and search powers.

"The pilots, which will help us to develop future police training, should ensure stop and search powers are used with greater precision and see a reduction in unproductive searches."

Pilot training has begun in all six forces and will continue until October 9. Evaluation of officer perceptions of the training will begin after that date. The design, piloting, evaluation and preparation for the national implementation of the training is sponsored by the EHRC and must be completed by the end of March.