Police twice as likely to fine BAME people

POLICE in Leicestershire were almost twice as likely to issue lockdown fines to people who are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Between March 27 and May 25, the police force issued 354 fines for breaking lockdown rules.

Of those, 239 were issued to white people and 114 to people from ethnic minorities.

Based on this, police issued 5.0 fines per 10,000 people from ethnic minorities - 1.7 times the rate they were given to white people, at 2.9 per 10,000 people.

However, there was a wide variation in the rates at which fines were issued among those from ethnic minority groups.

There were 32 fines given to black people, a rate of 12.3 per 10,000 people, 66 fines given to Asian and Chinese people (3.9 per 10,000), and seven to people of mixed ethnicity (3.3 per 10,000).

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which published the analysis, said the make-up of the local population and the number of fines being issued to non-residents may have an impact on the racial disparity. Areas that are popular with visitors but which have small ethnic minority populations may show a bigger disparity.

Based on where people live, rather than where they were fined, 345 fines were issued to people from Leicestershire .

That was at a rate of 2.8 per 10,000 white people, and 5.0 per 10,000 people from ethnic minority backgrounds, 1.8 times higher.

Black and other ethnic minority (BAME) residents of Leicestershire were 1.8 times more likely to be fined by the police force than white residents, while BAME non-residents were 1.5 times more likely to be fined than white non-residents.

Most people fined were from Leicestershire with 288 fines.

After locals, Leicestershire Police issued the most fines to people from the West Midlands Met area with 19.

Across England and Wales, 17,039 fines were issued between March 27 and May 25, a rate of 2.7 per 10,000 people.

The NPCC said for context, in the four weeks to 24 May, police recorded 134,188 incidents related to Covid-19. This includes a wide range of incidents such as officers proactively advising people, responding to alleged breaches of the regulations, and pandemic-related crime.

The rate at which black and ethnic minority people were fined was 1.6 times higher than for white people.

Within that, the disparity was higher for Asian and black people (both 1.8 times higher than white people), while people from mixed ethnic groups experienced a rate 1.2 times higher

Young men (aged 18-24 and 25-34) from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were overrepresented by around twice the rate of young white men in the same agegroups. In contrast, while young women (18-24) from a white background had similar levels of representation among those issued with FPNs as their representation in the general population, women of the same age from a black and minority ethnic background were slightly under-represented.

National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Martin Hewitt, said: “Real caution in interpretation of local disparity rates is required given the small numbers involved in some force areas.

“Rural and coastal forces that attract tourists issued significantly more FPNs to non-residents, which has significantly affected the level of disparity between white and people from black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds compared with other forces who issued fewer relatively to non-residents.

“While it is a complex picture, it is a concern to see disparity between white and black, Asian or ethnic minority people. Each force will be looking at this carefully to assess and mitigate any risks of bias.”