Overview

• The National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing have issued interim guidance, effective immediately, urging forces to consider disclosing suspects’ ethnicity and nationality in high-profile cases to counter misinformation or protect public safety.
• Individual forces retain full discretion over such disclosures and must ensure compliance with contempt-of-court laws and defendants’ right to a fair trial.
• The Home Office will verify and authorise any accompanying immigration information, as police are not responsible for determining suspects’ migration status.
• The policy responds to recent controversies, notably cover-up allegations in the Nuneaton child-rape case and unrest fuelled by false narratives after last summer’s Southport killings.
• Civil-society and migrant-rights groups warn that publishing ethnicity and nationality details risks racialising criminality and stigmatizing minority communities.