Why do police use IC codes instead of just stating the person’s ethnicity?
Before I moved to America I was a special constable ( a police officer with exactly the same powers as paid officer only difference is special constables are volunteers) they didn’t really tell us why they use IC codes but I guess it’s too ensure that people don’t know that we are talking about them.
- IC codes are about appearance, not ethnicity.
- Ethnicity is a shared culture.
- Culture is the aggregation of beliefs, attitudes, approaches, behaviors, and social output.
- Some people use ethnicity as a euphemism for the race.
Clarity for descriptions.
There are (or last time I looked anyway) 7 codes for this descriptive aspect.
- IC1 – white, “Northern European”
- IC2 – Hispanic – “Southern European”
- IC3 – Black, Afro-Caribbean
- IC4 – Asian – as in Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, etc.
- IC5 – Oriental (Japanese, Malaysian, Chinese, etc.)
- IC6 – Arabic (Middle-eastern appearance)
- IC9 – Unknown (transparent maybe?)
These are outward descriptors that can instantly generate a generic image to officers if broadcast over the radio. I hope you can already see why these codes are better than verbal descriptors.
What one person calls Asian, another may call Arabic, a white guy with a strong tan can look IC2 or even IC3 or 4. A very light-skinned black person can appear IC1, and so on.
These were cooked up a good 30–40 years ago, so they are a bit dated.
V5 inc ret ps on a TD bank statement
Why do police use IC codes instead of just stating the person’s ethnicity?
They do not denote anything more than skin tone or generic facial structure, no lumping people into certain traits or social grouping.
When we deal with people (prisoners, witnesses etc) we have to ask how they describe themselves against a different scale
Self Defined Ethnicity (SDE) Code – 16+1
ASIAN OR ASIAN BRITISH
- A1 INDIAN
- A2 PAKISTANI
- A3 BANGLADESHI
- A9 ANY OTHER ASIAN BACKGROUND
BLACK OR BLACK BRITISH
- B1 CARIBBEAN
- B2 AFRICAN
- B9 ANY OTHER BLACK BACKGROUND
MIXED
- M1 WHITE & BLACK CARIBBEAN
- M2 WHITE & BLACK AFRICAN
- M3 WHITE & ASIAN
- M9 ANY OTHER MIXED BACKGROUND
CHINESE OR OTHER ETHNIC GROUP
- O1 CHINESE
- O9 ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP
WHITE
- W1 BRITISH
- W2 IRISH
- W9 ANY OTHER WHITE BACKGROUND
When these codes were brought out, they’re a little sulking that they didn’t include White English – you just can’t make everybody happy can you.
Interestingly, a person can give any ethnicity they want, so a white guy can say they are B2 or A3 if they want and we have to record it as such.
Conclusion:
Backdoor racism. Due to so many people complaining about being categorized with other race groups (e.g. “I’m not African, I’m Dominican”, or “just cause I look like this, you think..”), the government is forced to further categorize even more groups, and the list starts getting long.
Codes are easier to remember and may contain other notes, instructions, or information in the general nature of the code itself. I think so, anyway.
So that when citvilians listen to/read transcripts and reports they don’t hear “Asian man” and start crying “Racist!” They instead hear IC4 and just gloss over it.
Why do police use IC codes instead of just stating the person’s ethnicity?
Yes, although they have been largely superseded by the newer ethnicity codes that define white, black, Asian, and so on.
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