Police still can’t explain why black and Asian people were fined more for lockdown breaches

Analysis: Research fails to dispel claims that black and ethnic minority communities have been ‘over-policed and under-protected’ during the pandemic, Lizzie Dearden writes

Police officers look at people relaxing in the sunshine on Primrose Hill in London on 7 May (AFP)

Official analysis has proved that black and Asian people were handed disproportionately high numbers of coronavirus fines during lockdown, but police cannot explain why.

Independent research commissioned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said that the gaps “could legitimately result from the fair application of the regulations when sub-groups differ in their observance of the regulations, or from an uneven enforcement by the police of the regulations across different sub-groups of the population”.

It found that black and Asian people were 1.8 times more likely to be fined for breaking lockdown laws in England and Wales between when they came into force on 27 March and 25 May.