Police forces have been told to release a suspect’s ethnicity in high profile cases under landmark new guidelines.
Forces will disclose the ethnicity and nationality of a suspect when it could reduce the risk of disorder, there are high levels of false information about an incident or there is significant public interest.
Decisions on whether to release the information after a suspect is charged will be made by senior investigating officers and communications chiefs at the individual force.
The new interim guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council follows a series of controversies in which police were criticised for a lack of transparency over the ethnicity of suspects.
Conversations about updating guidelines began following last summer’s disorder, which was sparked by the Southport murders of three young girls by Axel Rudakubana.
