The Guardian (USA)

Police in England and Wales far more likely to fine BAME people in lockdown

- Vikram Dodd and Mirren Gidda

Police enforcing the coronaviru­s lockdown in England and Wales were almost up to seven times more likely to issue fines to black, Asian and minority ethnic people than white people, figures show.

Data from police forces shows 17 were more likely to issue a penalty notice to BAME people than to white people. Two forces, Northumbri­a and Merseyside, were not.

One senior chief constable said bias and lack of trust from certain communitie­s may have played a role, as well as demographi­cs.

Officers had discretion on when to issue fines, and police said they followed an approach of trying to avoid enforcemen­t, known as the four Es – engaging, explaining and encouragin­g, before considerin­g enforcemen­t.

Figures obtained by Liberty Investigat­es, part of the civil liberties group Liberty, and the Guardian, give a forceby-force breakdown. The figures are yet to be officially released and had been requested by the home affairs committee investigat­ion into race and policing, which met on Wednesday.

The mainly rural Cumbria force was 6.8 times more likely to fine someone who was a BAME background than a white person. In Lincolnshi­re, and Avon and Somerset, which includes Bristol, people from a BAME background were 4.4 times more likely to be fined by police.

As a proportion of total population, the figures showed most forces were two to three times more likely to believe the behaviour of a BAME person merited a fine compared with a white person they came across.

Jon Sherlock, a chief inspector with the Cumbria Constabula­ry, said most fixed penalty notices were issued to BAME people who were visiting Cumbria: “Of the Cumbrian residents issued penalty notices, five were of a BAME background. In relation to those who reside outside of Cumbria, 22 people of a BAME background were issued a fixed penalty notice.

“Overall just over 8% of fixed penalty notices issued were to individual­s of a BAME background.”

Each of the 43 forces in England and Wales is operationa­lly independen­t and decided how they would police the lockdown. People were ordered to stay home unless they had an essential reason to leave.

Historical­ly, police use of powers had been the subject of past complaints that those from a BAME background were overly targeted.

The laws and rules for the lockdown were rushed in, and came into force on 27 March.

West Midlands police, the second largest force in England and Wales, was 1.6 more times likely to issue a fine to someone from a BAME background, compared with someone white.

Dave Thompson, the chief constable of the West Midlands, told the

Guardian: “I can’t rule out as a service we do have biases and discrimina­tion. Our interactio­ns based on the four Esmay be less successful if trust is already low with certain communitie­s.”

He said his force had issued a very low level of fines and that demographi­cs may also have contribute­d to the disproport­ionality. Furthermor­e, fines were more likely to be handed out to younger people and the BAME population made up a greater proportion of young people in his area.

Sgt Tola Munro, the president of the National Black Police Associatio­n, called for an inquiry by the police inspectora­te. He said: “It’s concerning. Looking at the figures there is disproport­ionality. Her Majesty’s Inspectora­te of Constabula­ry is the best body to look into these figures.”

The former Metropolit­an police chief Brian Paddick said: “In the light of Black Lives Matter, this demands an answer from the police service as to why this is happening.”

The burden has to be on the police to justify this disproport­ionality, he added. “It clearly raises the question of bias in the way the law and powers are being applied.”

Suffolk police, where BAME people were four times more likely to be fined, said: “Further analytical work is being conducted in relation to the figures. However, we can say that the tickets issued to individual­s from a black and minority ethnic background are broadly in line with the diversity of those communitie­s where the offences occurred, with the majority of fixed penalty notices issued done so in the central Ipswich area.”

One force, Merseyside, first supplied data showing it to be disproport­ionate, then when asked why, supplied data suggesting it was not.

A spokespers­on for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “We have commission­ed detailed statistica­l analysis of the force-level ethnicity data. It is a complex dataset requiring further work to ensure accuracy and that conclusion­s can meaningful­ly and confidentl­y be drawn from it. We will present the findings of the analysis once it is completed.”

 ?? Photograph: Yui Mok/PA ?? Police officers in a patrol car in Greenwich Park, London.
Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Police officers in a patrol car in Greenwich Park, London.

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