IC codes

Law enforcement
in the United Kingdom
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IC codes (identity code) or 6+1 codes are codes used by the British police in radio communications and crime recording systems to describe the apparent ethnicity of a suspect or victim.[1] Originating in the late 1970s, the codes are based on a police officer's visual assessment of an individual's ethnicity, as opposed to that individual's self-definition.[2][3] In most circumstances where an individual's ethnicity is recorded after spoken contact with police (such as a "Stop and Search" or arrest), in addition to visual assessment police are also required to use the more extensive "18+1" self defined ethnicity codes, "even if the category chosen is clearly at odds with the officer's visual assessment".[3]

Code Ethnicity[4]
IC1 White – North European
IC2 White – South European
IC3 Black
IC4 Asian – Indian subcontinent
IC5 Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Southeast Asian
IC6 Arab or North African
IC9 Unknown

The usage of IC codes in relation to individuals is recorded as part of information collected during activities including "Stop and Search", issuing of fixed penalties, arrest, and custody of individuals, and is recorded on a number of police databases.[3][5][6] This is as required under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, which states that:

(1) The Secretary of State shall in each year publish such information as he considers expedient for the purpose of—

(a) enabling persons engaged in the administration of criminal justice to become aware of the financial implications of their decisions;
(b) facilitating the performance by such persons of their duty to avoid discriminating against any persons on the ground of race or sex or any other improper ground.
— Criminal Justice Act 1991, section 95[7]

The codes are also known as PNC or Phoenix Codes, or the 6+1 system. Other individuals involved in security and law enforcement, such as environmental enforcement officers, street wardens, guardians (Cheltenham), city guardians (Broad Street, Westminster City Council), police community support officers, revenue protection inspectors, security guards and door supervisors, also use IC codes on a regular basis.

  1. ^ "Justice Matters: Disproportionality" (PDF). Mayor of London – Office for Policing and Crime. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  2. ^ Mackie, Lindsay (14 June 1978). "Race causes an initial confusion". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Bowsher, Kevin (2 March 2007). "The code systems used within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to formally record ethnicity". MPA briefing paper. Metropolitan Police Authority. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Metropolitan Police Service Live Facial Recognition Trials" (PDF). NPL/MPS Research Report. National Physical Laboratory, Metropolitan Police Service. February 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  5. ^ FitzGerald, Marian; Sibbitt, Rae (1997). "Ethnic monitoring in police forces: A beginning" (PDF). Home Office Research Study 173. London: Home Office.
  6. ^ "Race and the Criminal Justice System: An overview to the complete statistics 2003–2004" (PDF). Criminal Justice System. February 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  7. ^ Criminal Justice Act 1991, section 95