The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has issued new guidance encouraging police forces to share the ethnicity and nationality of suspects charged in high-profile or sensitive cases.
The aim is to reduce public safety risks and counter misinformation, especially during incidents of significant public interest. Decisions will remain at the discretion of individual forces, taking into account legal and ethical factors.
This update follows cases such as the alleged rape of a 12-year-old in Warwickshire by two men reported to be Afghan asylum seekers. The Home Office welcomed the move, saying transparency and consistency are essential for public trust.
The guidance, effective immediately, is part of a broader review of the College of Policing’s media relations practices. It also clarifies that verifying a suspect’s immigration status is the Home Office’s role, not the police’s.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has previously called for greater openness regarding suspects’ backgrounds. The NPCC said the changes aim to make policing more consistent, fair, and transparent, while addressing the challenges of fast-spreading online misinformation.
Background on current practice
Before 2012, police handled suspect details on a case-by-case basis. Following the Leveson Report on press ethics, forces became more cautious, and current guidance neither requires nor forbids releasing details on nationality, asylum status, or ethnicity.
This has led to inconsistencies. For example, Merseyside Police quickly confirmed a suspect was white and British after a car incident in Liverpool to stop terrorism rumours. Conversely, withholding details in the Southport child murders allowed false information to spread, contributing to riots in England and Northern Ireland in 2024.
Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya, NPCC lead for communications, said recent events showed the “real-world consequences” of what police choose to release. She stressed that fairness, consistency, and transparency will boost public confidence.
Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh, CEO of the College of Policing, said the interim guidance would help bring uniformity, allowing the release of ethnicity and nationality information for all groups when criteria are met.
Developed in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office, the guidance will inform updated official media relations policies later this year. The Home Office said it will authorise the release of relevant immigration information in future cases when appropriate and requested by police.
The government has also asked the Law Commission to speed up its review of contempt laws covering what can be said publicly before trials. Photo by Cheeseburger296, Wikimedia commons.