Calls Grow for Consistent Suspect Disclosure as PCC Election Nears

This week a young girl was stabbed in London and a 44 year old man was arrested. No description of the suspect was released.

In the same week our beloved Ann Widdecombe was brutally murdered in her home. The ethnicity of the suspect was revealed before charges were brought. (28 year old white male)

In 2025 a man in Liverpool drove into a crowd of people injuring 130 of them. The ethnicity of the suspect was revealed before charges were brought. (53 year old white male)

In July 2024 Axel Rudakubana murdered 3 children and attempted to murder another 10 people. Media reports initially described him as a “quiet choir boy” born in Cardiff.

Why the difference in descriptions when the suspect is white?

The answer is in the national policing guidance and the updated“national guidance for disclosing suspects’ details” issued in August 2025.

This guidance effectively establishes that the Police Force have the right to exercise their judgment as to when to release an accurate description of a suspect, including ethnicity, and when to withhold it.

The guidance also states that “it is not the role or responsibility of the police to verify a suspect’s immigration status.”

Thus far police chiefs seem to have interpreted this as a green light to release details of white suspects but not those from ethnic minorities. Their cover for this is the Southport riots of July 2024.

However this completely ignores the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 and the Mark Duggan riots of 2011.

It also misses a fundamental point.

The anger surrounding the Southport riots was primarily fuelled by a sense that information about the suspect was being hidden from the public and that the police were more interested in protecting the perpetrator than the public at large.

The solution to that is MORE transparency not less!

Denmark, under a centre left government, reveals detailed information about the background of criminals.

This transparency maintains confidence in public institutions. In Denmark public confidence in the police ranges between 69% and 86%. In the UK trust is at 43%.

Why so different?

Is it the case in Denmark that the police are less politicised and more focused on traditional policing?

Is it because they focus less on policing social media and more on policing crimes where people have actually been physically hurt?

Is it because they publish extensive data on criminality?

At the end of the day the guidelines are merely guidance. It is up to each police force how they interpret the risks and whether or not they collate data on immigration status or nationality.

What we need is a return to traditional policing and values around transparency and openness.

That’s why this Thursday’s Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner election is so crucial.

If you want traditional policing here in Norfolk then vote Colin Sutton for Norfolk Police & Crime Commissioner.