About: IC codes

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".