IC codes (identity code) or 6+1 codes are codes used by the

British police Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police officers serving in regional po ...

in radio communications and crime recording systems to describe the apparent

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

of a suspect or victim. Originating in the late 1970s, the codes are based on a police officer's perceived view of an individual's ethnicity based on a visual assessment, as opposed to that individual's self-definition. In most circumstances where an individual's ethnicity is recorded after spoken contact with police (such as a "

stop and search Stop and search or Stop and frisk is a term used to describe the powers of the police to search a person, place or object without first making an arrest. A 2021 survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that minority ethnic ...

" or arrest), in addition to visual assessment police are also required to use the more extensive "16+1" self defined ethnicity codes, "even if the category chosen is clearly at odds with the officer’s visual assessment". The usage of IC codes in relation to individuals is recorded as part of information collected during activities including "

", issuing of fixed penalties, arrest, and custody of individuals, and is recorded on a number of police databases. This is as required under section 95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, which states that: The IC codes are also known as PNC or Phoenix Codes, or the 6+1 system. Other individuals involved in security and law enforcement, such as environmental enforcement officers, street wardens, guardians (

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

), city guardians (Broad Street, Westminster City Council),

police community support officer A police community support officer (PCSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol yr heddlu, SCCH), or as written in legislation community support officer (CSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol, SCC) is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wal ...

s, revenue protection inspectors,

security guards A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

and door supervisors, also use IC codes on a regular basis.

Other uses

The IC classification has also been used in scientific research. In 2014, a global forensic database based on the IC codes was established. It contains the

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

(short tandem repeat) profiles of 7,121 individuals from various parts of the world residing or applying to live in the UK and Ireland. The six population database is used in a forensic setting to ascertain distant relatedness or coancestry according to the fixation index (FST) measure of genetic distance.

References

{{reflist Encodings Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Other uses

See also

References