A new report has found that young BAME men are twice as likely to be fined for COVID-19 related fines their white counterparts. Tara Pilkington reports.
A report published this Monday has found that young Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) men are nearly twice as likely to be fined for Covid-19 related matters than white counterparts.
The National Police Chiefs Council, NPCC, report has deducted that fixed penalty notices have been disproportionately issued to those frome BAME communities during the UK lockdown.
The results from the report have shown that, between 27 March and 25 May, those from BAME backgrounds were 1.6 times more likely to receive fines than white people, with this figure rising to 1.8 times more likely for black and Asian people.
Young men aged between 18 and 34 from BAME backgrounds were over-represented by roughly 2x the rate of white men in the same age demographic, the data suggests.
However, NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt has noted that the interpretation of the data should be done with caution due to the “small numbers involved in some force areas.”
He added: “In just under half of forces there were fewer than 40 FPNs in total issued to [BAME] people: much less than one FPN a day over the two-month period across each force area,”
“Rural and coastal forces that attract tourists issued significantly more FPNs to non-residents, which has significantly affected the level of disparity between white and people from [BAME] backgrounds compared with other forces who issued fewer relatively to non-residents.”
While Mr Hewitt said that the data presented a “complex picture”, he did admitted that the disparity was concerning.
