Let’s have a level playing field on publicising the ethnicity of suspects | Letter

The selective reporting of ethnicity creates the impression that a disproportionate amount of crime is committed by ethnic minorities, writes Martin Forde KC I write in response to your report (Police ‘forced to disclose ethnicity of suspects to counter far-right speculation’, 2 November). In 2020 I spoke to a senior Metropolitan police officer about the fact that the identification of suspects and arrested persons by ethnicity is only publicised when the person involved is non-white, creating the impression that most crime is committed by non-white criminals. This is particularly the case when the crime is committed in an area identified as one with a high ethnic minority population. If there is a headline “Brixton rapist”, how many white people will assume the suspect is white if he is not identified by ethnicity?