IC code

IC codes (identity code) or 6+1 codes are police codes used in the United Kingdom to visually describe the apparent ethnicity of a person.^[1][2] They originated in the late 1970s.^[3][4]

IC codes refer to a police officer's visual assessment of the ethnicity of a person, and are used in the quick transmission of basic visual information, such as over radio.^[4] They differ from self-defined ethnicity (SDE, or "18+1") codes, which refer to how a person describes their own ethnicity.^[4] When recording a person's details (such as in the case of a stop and search or arrest), police are required to ask for and use SDE categories where possible, even if the category chosen does not match the officer's own assessment.^[4]

IC codes have been used to record individuals' ethnicities in the Police National Computer.^[4][5] They have also been used in the reports on ethnicity in the criminal justice system published annually as required by the Criminal Justice Act 1991,^[6][2] and in some scientific research.^{[7][non-primary source needed]}

Code	Ethnicity[4][8]
IC1	White – North European
IC2	White – South European
IC3	Black
IC4	Asian – Indian subcontinent
IC5	Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Southeast Asian
IC6	Arab or North African
IC9	Unknown

See also

• Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom