Race / Ethnicity

Question 

1) Incidents and Crime Reporting

What statistics does the PSNI hold on racially or ethnically motivated crimes over the past 3 years, including both reported and prosecuted cases?

PSNI regularly publishes data on hate crimes that have been reported to us, including racially motivated crimes. Owing to the way our data is recorded we are unable to provide accurate statistical information in relation to prosecutions, but thePPS may be able to assist further. The next release of PSNI data will be on 27 November and will cover data up to 30 September 2025. Please click the following link to be taken to the relevant page on our website  https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/officialstatistics/hate-motivation-statistics.

Also, please see the attached spreadsheet for a further breakdown of race hatecrime by victim ethnicity for the last five years. This data is only for person victims, as opposed to e.g. property crimes such as criminal damage.

Are there trends in specific types of hate crime (e.g., verbal abuse, assaults, property damage) by race/ethnicity?

Given how hate crimes and hate incidents are recorded on our systems, it would not be possible to provide any further detail in relation to trends in specific types of hate crime. From a hate crime perspective we can say that around 80% of crimes reported are in the violence against the person category and criminal damage.

In regard to the hate crime arrests reported on routinely online, can you please provide;

- How many of those arrested were subsequently de-arrested?
- How many were dealt with through pre-court disposals of any kind?

We do not collate this information on hate crime arrests. We do often collate arrest data in respect of specific operations, such as with ANGLE 441, where we compiled a range of data and statistics relating to the June 2025 disorder, but this data is collated by the POET teams to monitor outcomes in relation to specific operations only.

Please provide statistics by geographic area or policing district – whichever is easiest.

PSNI produces financial year race hate crime data by a range of geographies, which is available on the NISRA data portal, but this is not broken down by ethnicity due to the risk of identification of victims. The NISRA portal can be accessed at this link https://data.nisra.gov.uk/product/CHMCI

2) Stop and Search / Policing Interactions

For the last 3 years, can you outline the stop-and-searches made, broken down by race / ethnicity?

Number of persons stopped and searched/questioned by ethnicity: 2022/23 – 2024/25

(1) Ethnicity may be officer perceived. A degree of undercounting may exist for the Irish Traveller category as some Irish Travellers are likely to be categorised as White.

These figures are published on the PSNI website at the following link: https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-publications-and-reports/officialstatistics/stop-and-search-statistics

How are outcomes from stop-and-search or other police interactions monitored across different ethnic groups?

The outcomes of persons stopped and searched / questioned by ethnicity are reported to the PSNI’s Service Accountability Panel (SAP) each quarter. In addition to this, other outcomes information reported to the SAP includes the outcome of persons stopped and searched / questioned by age and the outcome of persons stopped and searched / questioned by gender.

The SAP quarterly report also includes data on the number of persons stopped and searched / questioned during the last 12 months by ethnicity (which is also broken down as a percentage in respect of children under 18 years of age), how often an object is found during a stop and search and on the occasions when an object was found, the percentage of the time the object was linked to the initial reason of the stop and search, i.e. the officer found what they were looking for.

Are there differences in arrest rates, charges or cautions by race/ethnicity that you can provide the statistics for the over the last 3 years?

Arrests1 and subsequent charges2 by ethnicity: 2022/23 - 2024/25

1 Arrested and processed through police custody

2 Arrested, processed through police custody and subsequently charged

Charge rate (%)

Unfortunately we cannot provide data into the ethnicity of those issued with cautions.

3) Community Engagement and Trust

Does the PSNI track participation of BAME communities in community engagement initiatives or consultation processes? If yes, can you provide the results, etc. “100% of people attending REAP event were from BAME background” or “20% of people attending CYP REaL event were from BAME background”.

The PSNI does not track participation of community background in engagement initiatives or consultation processes.

Are there surveys or internal metrics on trust, satisfaction, or perceptions of fairness in PSNI among different ethnic groups that you can share?

While some Niche data on ethnicity is carried across to the victim satisfaction survey results, this is not comprehensive enough to provide an accurate overview.

4) Complaints and Misconduct

How many complaints have been brought against police officers broken down by race / ethnicity?

How many complaints to PSNI have been about race/ethnicity issues experienced by the complainant?

Are outcomes of complaints tracked by race/ethnicity, and if so, what trends have emerged?

Public Complaints are a matter for Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI). It is not known if PONI records the complainant’s race/ethnicity.

PONI data supplied to PSD relating to ‘complaints’ does not categorise by race/ethnicity issues. A total of 86 ‘allegations’ in the category of ‘Racially discriminatory behaviour’ have however been made against PSNI over the past 5 years.

5) Internal PSNI Workforce

What is the racial and ethnic composition of the PSNI workforce and how has this changed in the last 3 years (if it’s easier to do 5/10 years, that’s grand. I know recruitment had stalled for a time)?

Are there statistics on recruitment, retention, promotion, or disciplinary actions by race/ethnicity?

Police Officer Composition by Ethnic Background

Student Officer Applications and Appointees by Ethnic Background

*Appointments are being progressed to all of the above competitions

Police Officer Leavers by Ethnic Background

* up to 14/10/2025

Police Officer Promotions by Ethnic Background

* appointments from our 2025 promotions processes are ongoing at present

Recorded Race Hate Crime with a Person Victim by Victim Ethnicity, 2020/21 - 2024/25

The following tables show the proportion of recorded race hate motivated offences by victim ethnicity, 2020/21 - 2024/25.

The total number of recorded race hate motivated offences with a person victim is recorded at the top of each category. Proportions within that category are given below.

In 2023 PSNI reviewed all race crimes from 2021/22 and 2022/23 where the ethnicity of the victim was missing. In over 90 per cent of cases the ethnicity details could be identified and each record was updated accordingly. Following the completion of this exercise the proportion of race crimes where the victim's ethnicity was missing fell from 25% in both 2021/22 and 2022/23 to 2%. The extent of these improvements is such that it has necessitated a break in the data series; direct comparison should not be made with the period prior to 2021/02. While improvements in the recording process have resulted in a lower level of missing data in 2023/24 and 2024/25 than was originally recorded in 2021/22 and 2022/23, they remain higher than the level available following the review exercise. Therefore comparisons with years following 2021/22 - 2022/23 should also be made with caution.

Table 1 - Recorded Race Hate Crime with a Person Victim, by Victim Ethnicity

Table 2 - Recorded Race Hate Crime with a Person Victim, by District and Victim Ethnicity

Table 3 - Recorded Race Hate Crime with a Person Victim, by Offence Classification and Victim Ethnicity

Table 4 - Recorded Violence Against the Person Offence with a Race Hate Motivation, by sub-classification

Dr Kate Laverty