Policing must maintain a balance between justice and transparency

Given the sensitivity of the issue, the high level of public interest, and the clear danger of legitimate public protests descending into mob rule, it is entirely right that the police should be given new guidance on releasing details of the ethnicity and nationality of a suspect in some, limited circumstances.

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The new interim guidance, issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council and the College of Policing, is, if anything, somewhat overdue - because it has been distressingly clear that surmise, conjecture, speculation, misinformation, propaganda, “asking questions”, and downright lies about serious crimes, can be weaponised by malign agents. Conspiracy theories have generated enormous public concern, and then disorder.

Some calm analysis is required. Crime is crime, and criminals are criminals, and crime cannot be racialised. The release of information concerning a suspect's nationality, race, or immigration status (as has been suggested but, for the moment, resisted) cannot be used as an excuse for a riot. An offence is not more serious because it has been committed by, say, an asylum seeker, and an individual is not in some sense more guilty because of the colour of their skin.

Except in cases involving a racial motive or incitement to hatred, such considerations ought to be irrelevant. Generally, they will continue to be. That has to be the default position. However, if a senior police team judges that the safety of the public is best served by the release of certain defaults, then a degree of discretion is justified. “Guidance” is just that – a set of guidelines, not hard rules.