IC codes (identity code) or 6+1 codes are codes used by the
British police in radio communications and crime recording systems to describe the apparent
ethnicity 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" 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 "
stop and search", 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
The Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Most of it only applies to England and Wales, with certain clauses extended to either Northern Ireland or Scotland. The Act enabled the introduction of pri ...
, 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 warden
A street warden is someone who patrols the streets in order to aid the police at a community level. Examples include the Red Caps of London.
Street wardens (sometimes referred to as community wardens) do not have police powers, nor are they the ...
s, guardians (
Cheltenham), city guardians (Broad Street, Westminster City Council),
police community support officers,
revenue protection inspectors,
security guards 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
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...
database based on the IC codes was established. It contains the
microsatellite (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
The fixation index (FST) is a measure of population differentiation due to genetic structure. It is frequently estimated from genetic polymorphism data, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) or microsatellites. Developed as a special case o ...
(FST) measure of genetic distance.
See also
*
Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom
A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...
References
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Encodings
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
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