Arrests based on Race Statistics

1. Main facts and figures

• Black people were over 3 times as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 35 arrests for every 1,000 Black people, and 10 arrests for every 1,000 White people

• overall, men were 6 times as likely to be arrested as women – there were 22 arrests for every 1,000 men, and 4 arrests for every 1,000 women

• Black women were more than twice as likely to be arrested as White women – there were 7 arrests for every 1,000 Black women, and 3 arrests for every 1,000 White women

• figures for 2017/18 exclude Lancashire Police as they were unable to provide data on arrests

This data shows that:

• there were 675,461 arrests in England and Wales in 2017/18 (excluding the Lancashire police force area), at a rate of 12 arrests per 1,000 people

• there were 66,946 fewer arrests in 2017/18 compared with the previous year, a fall of 9% (excluding Lancashire Police from both years)

• Black people were over 3 times as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 35 arrests for every 1,000 Black people, and 10 arrests for every 1,000 White people

• people with Mixed ethnicity were nearly twice as likely to be arrested as White people – there were 19 arrests for every 1,000 people with Mixed ethnicity, and 10 arrests for every 1,000 White people

By ethnicity over time

This data up to 2016/17 shows that:

• overall, rates of arrest in England and Wales fell from 26 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 14 arrests per 1,000 people in 2016/17

• there were 117,151 fewer arrests in 2016/17 compared with the previous year, a fall of 13%

• arrest rates for people from the Asian, White, and Other (including Chinese) ethnic groups were lower than average in almost every year of the period studied, while the rates for people from the Black and Mixed ethnic groups were consistently higher than average

• between 2006/07 and 2016/17, the arrest rate for White people went down from 24 arrests per 1,000 to 11 arrests per 1,000 – a decrease of 51%

• in the same period, the arrest rate for people with Mixed ethnicity went down from 33 arrests per 1,000 to 20 arrests per 1,000 – a decrease of 39%

• the arrest rate for people from the Other ethnic group went down from 20 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 13 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 38%

• the arrest rate for Black people went down from 56 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 38 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 33%

• the arrest rate for Asian people went down from 18 arrests per 1,000 people in 2006/07 to 14 per 1,000 in 2016/17 – a decrease of 26%

By ethnicity and area

Lancashire Police were unable to provide arrests data in 2017/18. Population estimates for Lancashire have therefore been removed from the 'All' population figures when calculating arrest rates per 1,000 people. This data shows that:

• in 2017/18, the biggest difference in the arrest rates between Black people and White people was in Dorset (where Black people were almost 12 times as likely to be arrested as White people), followed by Cumbria (where Black people were 10 times as likely to be arrested as White people)

• Black people had the highest arrest rates per 1,000 people in every police force area for which there was data

• the arrest rate for Asian people was nearly 3 times higher than the rate for White people in West Mercia

• the arrest rate for people with Mixed ethnicity was 3 times the rate for White people in Essex, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire

• in London (the Metropolitan Police force area), 53% of people arrested were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined (the highest percentage out of all police force areas) – by comparison, 40% of the population of London was from these combined ethnic groups at the time of the 2011 Census

• in London, there were 19 arrests for every 1,000 ethnic minority people compared with 12 arrests for every 1,000 White people

• Cleveland had the highest overall rate of arrests, at 19 arrests for every 1,000 people

• the police forces with the lowest overall rates of arrests were Devon and Cornwall (7 arrests for every 1,000 people), followed by Gloucestershire, Surrey, and Dyfed-Powys (each with 8 arrests per 1,000 people)

• differences in the rate of arrests in England and Wales are likely, in part, to reflect population differences in those areas (with many more people from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups living in London than in North Wales, for example)

By ethnicity and gender

This data shows that:

• overall in 2017/18, there were 3 arrests for every 1,000 women and 21 arrests for every 1,000 men

• Black men were over three times as likely to be arrested than White men – there were 66 arrests for every 1,000 Black men, and 18 arrests for every 1,000 White men

• Black women were over twice as likely to be arrested as White women – there were 7 arrests for every 1,000 Black women, and 3 arrests for every 1,000 White women

• Asian men were 11 times as likely to be arrested as Asian women, the biggest difference between men and women from the same ethnic group – there were 22 arrests for every 1,000 Asian men, and 2 arrests for every 1,000 Asian women

6. Methodology

A person arrested for a notifiable offence is counted for each occasion on which they are arrested, provided that the offence is not connected or related to an offence for which the person has already been subject to arrest during the year. If it is connected, or if a person has been arrested for more than one notifiable offences on the same occasion, the offence with the highest maximum penalty is recorded. Arresting officers are required to record details of an arrest at the time of arrest, or as soon as possible after. A universal code of practice (PACE code G) ensures arrests are standardised across forces, both in terms of the processes involved, and the data recorded. The person arrested states their ethnicity at the time of arrest. Police forces have their own internal auditing methods to ensure that data is accurate and up to date before it's submitted to the Home Office. Rounding Rates of arrest per 1,000 people are rounded to the nearest whole number. Further technical information Police forces' recording of arrests, and use of the data, are monitored by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). HMICFRS carries out regular inspections and produce reports on the inspections. Home Office statisticians undertake quality assurance checks which include looking for missing and incomplete data, inconsistencies in the data, and extreme values. Trend analyses also look for unusual or unexpected trends in the data. Any inconsistencies or unusual trends are flagged with forces, who are requested to either explain the trends, or resubmit to amend the data. All data is then confirmed by forces during a data reconciliation before the figures are published.