IC codes (identity code) or 6+1 codes are police codes used in the United Kingdom to visually describe the apparent ethnicity of a person.[1][2] They originated in the late 1970s.[3][4]
IC codes refer to a police officer's visual assessment of the ethnicity of a person, and are used in the quick transmission of basic visual information, such as over radio.[4] They differ from self-defined ethnicity (SDE, or "18+1") codes, which refer to how a person describes their own ethnicity.[4] When recording a person's details (such as in the case of a stop and search or arrest), police are required to ask for and use SDE categories where possible, even if the category chosen does not match the officer's own assessment.[4]
IC codes have been used to record individuals' ethnicities in the Police National Computer.[4][5] They have also been used in the reports on ethnicity in the criminal justice system published annually as required by the Criminal Justice Act 1991,[6][2] and in some scientific research.[7][non-primary source needed]
| Code | Ethnicity[4][8] |
|---|---|
| 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 |
See also
References
- ^ "Justice Matters: Disproportionality". Mayor of London – Office for Policing and Crime. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "A Technical Guide to Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System, 2022". GOV.UK. 2024-01-25. Archived 2025-01-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
- ^ Mackie, Lindsay (14 June 1978). "Race causes an initial confusion". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ FitzGerald, Marian & Sibbitt, Rae (1997). "Ethnic monitoring in police forces: A beginning". Home Office Research Study 173. London: Home Office. Archived 1 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
- ^ "53" (act). 1991. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
The Secretary of State shall in each year publish such information as he considers expedient for the purpose of [...] 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.
- ^ Steele, Christopher D.; Court, Denise Syndercombe; Balding, David J. (November 2014). "Worldwide Fst Estimates Relative to Five Continental-Scale Populations". Annals of Human Genetics. 78 (6): 468–477. doi:10.1111/ahg.12081. PMC 4223938. PMID 26460400
- ^ "Metropolitan Police Service Live Facial Recognition Trials". NPL/MPS Research Report. National Physical Laboratory, Metropolitan Police Service. February 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2024.