Fifty racial justice groups, led by the Runnymede Trust, have written to the Home Secretary and police chiefs demanding the scrapping of a policy that allows police in England and Wales to disclose the ethnicity and nationality of suspects in high-profile cases. The groups argue the policy has had a “devastating effect” and is fuelling prejudice.
Introduced in August 2024 by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the policy was intended to counter misinformation. However, campaigners say it has instead increased harmful reporting. Their research shows the term “asylum seeker” appeared five times more often in articles on serious crime after the policy change.
The letter states: “This guidance… is having a devastating impact on our country, harming our communities… In practice it has had the opposite effect, becoming a catalyst for crime reporting reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s – reviving a focus on race and migration status.”
The policy was partly a response to false far-right claims about the Southport attack, where the attacker was actually a British national. The groups warn that ethnicity or origin is now often treated as more important than the crime itself, fostering a dangerous conflation between race, migration and criminality.
Supporters of the call include Amnesty International UK, Liberty, the Muslim Council of Britain, and Jewish Women’s Aid. A College of Policing spokesperson defended the policy, saying it helps prevent a vacuum of information and the spread of mis- and disinformation in high-profile cases.
