Plans to disclose the ethnicity and immigration status of criminal suspects in the UK have been condemned by race campaigners for setting a dangerous precedent for \u201cdog-whistle politics\u201d, which will make \u201cBlack and brown communities more vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has welcomed new police guidelines released on Wednesday which encourage forces to release the race and nationality of those charged in high-profile cases.<\/p>\n
It is meant to combat misinformation on social media<\/a>, which spread last summer after the murder of three schoolgirls in Southport. False information about the killer\u2019s nationality, religion and asylum status fuelled widespread unrest<\/a> throughout the country.<\/p>\n But race campaigners believe the move may encourage focus on the racial background of suspects, and will lead to further rightwing conspiracy theories when information is not released to the public.<\/p>\n Enny Choudhury, the co-head of legal at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: \u201cReleasing the ethnicity of everyone suspected of serious crimes will \u2026 simply fuel mistrust, deepen divisions, and make Black and brown communities more vulnerable to prejudice and harm.<\/p>\n \u201cSome point to cases like Southport, where rumours were quashed by releasing specific information. But building a blanket policy around this is dangerous. It turns race into a variable in policing and public debate \u2013 when we know the vast majority of serious crimes, including sexual offences, are committed by white men.<\/p>\n \u201cThe role of the justice system should be to unite communities in pursuit of justice, not to single people out because of their ethnicity.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter Herbert, from the Society of Black Lawyers, questioned the role of the police around issues of ethnicity and nationality when forces still face allegations of institutional racism.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe disclosure of ethnicity in particular is especially sensitive. People have never committed crimes on the basis of their ethnicity or nationality, and therefore the whole premise about releasing this information in certain cases sets a dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n \u201cOne only has to remember the misinformation the surrounded the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes to understand the police themselves are often guilty of putting out misinformation which exacerbates public concern and fear.<\/p>\n \u201cConspiracy theorists are rarely satisfied by official announcements and therefore tagging ethnicity and nationality, even in a limited amount of cases, opens a dangerous door to widespread xenophobia and racism, enabling the criminal justice system to be used for dog-whistle politics.\u201d<\/p>\n The guidance, which comes into immediate effect, was developed by the National Police<\/a> Chiefs\u2019 Council in recognition of \u201cpublic concerns\u201d, and to ensure police processes were \u201cfit for purpose in an age of rapid information spread\u201d.<\/p>\n