The National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing have backed plans to offer greater “transparency” on the ethnicity, and potentially the immigration status, of police suspects. But in a world where rumours travel faster than facts, this new approach will have profound consequences for justice – and for the people who will live with the consequences.

The new national guidance says that “police forces should consider disclosing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects when they are charged in high profile and sensitive investigations and operations”. It comes after Reform UK accused police of a “cover-up” over two men who have been charged in connection with the alleged rape of a child in Nuneaton. Prior to this, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, had expressed her view that guidance should change to allow “more transparency”. She was joined in this opinion by the chief inspector of constabulary, who warned that withholding such details could feed “two-tier policing” claims (the allegation that the state polices majorities more harshly than minorities, contrary to the overwhelming body of evidence that shows otherwise).

The idea that identity characteristics should feature, after arrest, in what information is publicly released during police investigations has been circling for years. Until very recently, officials and criminal justice practitioners had mostly resisted. Their concern was simple: routine publication of these details would invite the public to see suspects as examples of a group rather than as individuals in a case.

The current approach is embedded in force policies that explicitly root decisions over what to share with the media in “policing purpose” – releasing only what is necessary to protect life, prevent and detect crime, bring offenders to justice and maintain public confidence, rather than what satisfies curiosity or advances a political argument. It is........

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