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PSNI officers in Lisburn city centre. File photo by Kelvin Boyes, Press Eye
The PSNI will stop sharing data on migrant victims of crime with UK immigration enforcement in all but “very specific and exceptional circumstances”, after admitting that its previous approach “could be perceived as constituting institutional racism”.
The move follows years of concerns from migrant and women's rights groups that insecure immigration status may deter victims from reporting crimes to the police for fear of deportation.
Announcing the changes, deputy chief constable Bobby Singleton said that “any fear that prevents victims coming forward damages confidence in policing and allows offenders to go unchallenged.
“That is not acceptable – we must always prioritise the needs of victims over immigration enforcement.”
He added that “it is clear that our previous practices risked preventing some of the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland coming forward to report crime”.
The new policy comes almost two years after The Detail obtained data which undermined police assurances that they did not routinely share victim data with the Home Office.
In February 2023, we revealed that dozens of migrants who were victims of domestic abuse and other crimes had been reported to immigration authorities by the PSNI.
An internal review by the PSNI later found that tens of thousands of migrant victims and witnesses of crime, including those subjected to racist attacks and domestic abuse, were reported to the UK immigration authorities over a five-year period.
Under the previous policy, whenever an officer encountered a migrant victim, witness, or suspect of crime they were automatically prompted to send their name, address, and other personal data to Home Office enforcement authorities.
Routine sharing based solely on nationality or ethnicity “would not comprise a necessary, proportionate or lawful Policing purpose and could be perceived as constituting institutional racism”, the new PSNI service instruction states.
Human rights groups said at the time that they were startled by the scale of data sharing by the PSNI and that the revelations “damaged migrants’ confidence in policing”.
People previously told The Detail that when they reported crimes, including race hate attacks, the PSNI quizzed them about their immigration status.
Muhammad Atif, a trustee at the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association, said that after volunteers’ cars were smashed with concrete blocks in a race hate attack in September 2020, police quizzed the volunteers about their immigration status.
“For me, it is more of the blaming the victim approach,” he said at the time.
Groups working with women and the vulnerable say the policy detered crime victims from seeking help, and emboldens attackers.
The PSNI said in 2024 that it had no records of what happened to those victims who were referred to immigration enforcement
A Home Office report previously found that a quarter of domestic abuse victims referred by various UK police forces to immigration enforcement were served deportation notices.
The new policy, launched at a community event in Belfast on Monday, states that data sharing will now only happen “in very specific and exceptional circumstances” and will require the sign-off of a senior chief officer.
Such circumstances could include where the victim of crime has “a history of high-harm offending overseas” and data sharing is necessary and proportionate to prevent further offending.
High harm offences include murder, kidnapping, and rape.
“Victims or witnesses who have a minor history of lower level offending, e.g. a nonviolent summary offence such as possession of a small amount of controlled drugs for personal use, will not meet the threshold for referral to Home Office Immigration Enforcement”, the document states.
All referrals must now be made by email, and “under no circumstances” should referrals be made by phone, to ensure better record-keeping.
PSNI phones will be blocked from calling the Home Office Immigration Enforcement referral number.
Referrals will also be subject to oversight by the Northern Ireland Policing Board at “regular intervals”.
Suspects of crime will continue to have their information routinely shared with the Home Office.
Geraldine Hanna, the Victims of Crime Commissioner NI, who sat on an advisory board, said she hopes other forces across the UK will follow suit.
“I commend the PSNI for their leadership and their commitment to working in partnership and collaboration to develop a policy that is truly victim focused,” she said.