Police forces are still failing to record the ethnicity of
victims of crimes in nearly two thirds of cases, and they should
publish more data on ethnicity to help build public confidence, a
new report has found.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue
Services (HMICFRS) reviewed crime data recorded during 2021-22,
where a victim was identified, and found that in 61% of cases the
victim’s ethnicity was not recorded, in 26% sex wasn’t recorded,
and in 27% the age wasn’t stated.
The inspectorate said that while the police have done much
work in recent years to identify race disparity in stop and
search, in too many areas forces are unable to accurately
assess the full impact of crime on, or the quality of their
service to, people from different demographic groups. This is
despite numerous previous warnings from the inspectorate about
the problem.
Where data was recorded, there were clear differences
between the experiences of people from different ethnic
backgrounds. For example, people from ethnic minority
backgrounds were less likely than White people to receive a
caution in 16 out of the 17 forces that gave HMICFRS data.
Cautions provide an opportunity for offences to be dealt with
while avoiding a person being given a criminal record. It is
therefore important that forces monitor whether decisions about
cautions, and other criminal justice decisions, are being made
fairly and consistently.
The inspectorate said that while evidence of disparity isn’t in
itself evidence of discrimination, it should warrant further
investigation.
HMICFRS also said that strategies designed to tackle race and
policing issues needed to be finalised or updated, and then
implemented by police forces. The
inspectorate criticised insufficient leadership from central
government departments and senior police officers on race
disparity in the police’s criminal justice decision-making.
The inspectorate looked at race and policing in two reports,
and made a series of recommendations including:
- the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the Home Office
and the Ministry of Justice should create an action plan to
ensure information on police criminal justice race disparity is
better gathered, analysed, scrutinised and published;
- chief constables should make sure that forces carry out
comprehensive analysis of race disparity in police criminal
justice decision-making. Where this analysis indicates that
people from ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionately
affected, police forces should explain, or revise, their ways of
working;
- the NPCC and the College of Policing should finalise and
publish the Police Race Action Plan and forces should implement
this plan without delay; and
- the NPCC and the College of Policing should publish the
revised 2018–2025 diversity, equality and inclusion
strategy.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams
said:
“Some of the decisions that the police make daily about criminal
justice matters can have life-changing consequences for the
people concerned.
“So it is extremely worrying that the police and wider criminal
justice system are failing to gather and publish information
about whether these police decisions are being made fairly and
consistently.
“Where we do have data, there are clear differences between the
experiences of people from different ethnic backgrounds. We know,
for example, that children from ethnic minority backgrounds are
disproportionately represented in youth custody - and this
disparity has been getting larger over the past decade. It is
essential that the police understand why these disparities exist.
“To gain the trust and confidence of all communities, police
forces need to gather this information, make it easily available,
and encourage the public to help scrutinise it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Two new reports will be published on the HMICFRS
website at 10:00 on Friday 25 August 2023:
-
Race and policing: A review of
the police service’s leadership and governance arrangements for
race-related matters
-
Race and policing: An
inspection of race disparity in police criminal justice
decision-making
