The ministers have said that the police should be more transparent about the nationalities of the accused. But what are the rules really?
When a police force in England and Wales arrests or accuses a suspect and they are thinking about informing the media, they have to keep two things in mind: Law About the contempt of court Which are designed to ensure that the suspects have a fair test, and the college of policing Guidance on media relations,
The contempt of court laws in this context is quite simple. No one should publicly make public public that can make future testing inappropriate, for example to detail the evidence that the police officers have collected.
In most cases, there is no possibility of making the test publishing the nationality of the accused publishing inappropriate, so contempt of court laws often does not apply.
The college of policing guidance is more complex. Before 2012, the police forces decided that what should be given to the media on the matter purely on the basis of the case.
These decisions were often fined, but were based on how relevant this information was considered, and sometimes depended on force relations with a personal journalist. But Lord Leaveson after publishing them Report in the morality of the press In 2012, the police force became very cautious about what information they released.
It concluded at the Policing Guiding College on media relations, stating that if someone is arrested (but has not yet been accused), the police should only give the sex and age of the suspect. Guidance does not say anything about nationality or refuge at this level. Once a suspect is accused, the guidance says that the police can give information like name, name, date of birth and suspect address.
Again, the status of nationality and asylum is not mentioned, but guidance says: “The media is aware of automated reporting sanctions and it is their responsibility to follow them. Any information permitted under such sanctions should be issued in the following, including the following: Name, date of birth, address, details and date of court appearance.
“If a person’s business can be released if it is relevant to the crime – for example, a teacher accused a disciple attack in school where he works.”
Therefore, there is nothing under guidance that prevents the police from giving information about that nationality, refuge status or even a person who has been charged. But there is nothing that especially mentions them.
When Warvikshire Police Two people accused in connection With the rape of a 12 -year -old girl, the force would not say whether men were shelter.
Force said: “Once someone is accused of crime, we follow national guidance. This guidance does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status.”
While this last sentence is true, guidance does not actually suggest ethnicity and immigration status in a way or in another way.
Reform UK leader Nigel Faraj accused the police of a cover-up.
In response, Home Secretary Yvet Cooper told BBC Radio 4 Today Program on Tuesday: “We think there should be more transparency. We think more information should be provided, including issues around nationality, some of which are also included on refuge issues.”
The official spokesperson of the Prime Minister had earlier said: “Our situation is that the officials, whether it is police or whether the central government, should be as transparent as much as possible on these issues.”
In fact, what information should be released to the media is largely at the discretion of the police force.
As the events showed in Liverpool in May, when the forces feel that it is in public interest, they will release information about the ethnicity of a suspect. Before they chargedWhen a car pledged in the crowd, celebrating Liverpool FC’s lovership title victory, the Mercyssed police quickly said that the arrested person was white and British to reduce the rumors of a terrorist attack.
The college of policing said: “Police forces take challenging and complex decisions on a case-by-case basis and transparency is necessary to prevent wrong information and assure the public.”
It said that its guidance was “already subject to review” and the police forces were considering how to balance their legal obligations with “their responsibility to stop the disorder”.
The issue of what the police can release about a suspect came out in the last summer when Axle Rudkbana was arrested for killing three young girls, Alice Agnar, Nine, Babe King, Six, and Elsey dot Stancomb, Seven, Southport.
The first Mercesis police did not release any information about her or her religion, which allowed false information that he was a Muslim asylum. Such disintegration was at least partially responsible for the previous summer riots. At that time, the Mercyside police said that it was not giving much information due to contempt of court rules.
The Law Commission is also looking at the contempt of court laws with reviews due to the report next month.
