BAME people ‘50pc more likely’ to get curbs fines

LONDON: Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were at least 50 per cent more likely to receive coronavirus lockdown fines in England than those who were white, MPs have heard.

The figures were discussed during a Commons Home Affairs Committee session which is examining the policing of people from BAME backgrounds. Mirren Gidda, a journalist at Liberty Investigates which is part of human rights campaign group Liberty, told the committee that her analysis of police figures available showed overall that BAME people were 54 per cent more likely to be given a fixed penalty notice (FPN) than white people in England.

But figures for some individual forces were higher. Ben Bowling, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at King’s College London, told the committee the figures were “disappointing and troubling”, adding: “It seems to me they are indicative of, and support evidence of, a pattern of disproportionate policing against black and minority ethnic communities which has persisted over time.”

Analysis by the PA news agency of figures provided by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) of fines issued between March 27 and June 8 suggested the rate was 50 per cent higher for FPNs handed to people who were not white.

Comparing the number of fines to the population, using estimates broken down by ethnicity from the Office for National Statistics, indicated the number handed to white people was around 20 per every 100,000.

For those from BAME backgrounds, this was 30 fines per 100,000 people. Katrina Ffrench, chief executive of the StopWatch campaign group, told the committee the organisation had witnessed key workers “being targeted by the police”, adding: “It’s unfortunate to say but we strongly believe it’s because of their skin colour and perceptions those people are out up to no good rather than being law-abiding citizens.”

She suggested a lack of transparency of data showing the ethnicity of people stopped by officers was because police were “quite embarrassed” at the treatment of those from BAME backgrounds, adding: “This isn’t new. This is a systemic issue that has blighted our society for a generation.”

The comments came as fresh figures emerged which suggested some police forces in England and Wales were more than six times more likely to fine people from BAME backgrounds than white people.

Some 17 police forces were more likely to issue a penalty notice to BAME people than to white people, according to data obtained from police forces by the Guardian and Liberty Investigates.

Gidda told the committee the findings showed Cumbria Police were 6.8 times more likely to fine BAME people as opposed to white people and that this rate was around 4.4 in Avon and Somerset and Lincolnshire forces.

Because of flaws in initial data provided by the NPCC, the body was “able to claim the fines were being issued proportionately when they weren’t”, she said, adding that once the information was adjusted “it was clear that BAME people were being disproportionately fined”.

Gidda said this “throws into question the validity of the fines”, adding: “There are case studies of BAME people who have been issued FPNs that seem to have been issued unlawfully, and that have been the subject, or are the subject, of legal challenges.”