Cop speak.

[Oleanda]

On "THe Bill" the cops refer to suspects as IC1,IC3, and IC4, which I take to mean white, black, and asian. I've never heard them say IC2, anyone know why, or what it might mean?

[Octavius]

From January 1, 2003, Bedfordshire Police officers will be asking people they come into contact with to identify their ethnicity so that fair treatment of different groups can be monitored to improve the quality of the service the force provides.
 
The new classification system is being introduced nationally by the Home Office and must be in place nationwide by April 1st 2003, however some forces already employ the new system.

Until now officers have made an assumption as to the ethnicity of a victim of crime or an offender based on appearance and recorded it using the traditional police codes:

IC1 (white)

IC2 (Mediterranean)

IC3 (black)

IC4 (Asian) etc.

Under the new code each category will be broken down still further to include among others white British/Irish, Mixed Heritage etc, Asian Indian/Pakistan/Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean/African, etc.

The new system is known as "16+1" because there are 16 codes. The "+1" stands for "Not Stated" in case the individual chooses not to acknowledge their ethnic background. If this is the case the officer will assume their ethnicity and record this instead.

[Octavius]

Furthermore....

British Police Physical Appearence Codes

IC1  White
IC2  Mediterranean and Hispanic
IC3  African / Caribbean 
IC4  South Asians including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi
IC5  South-East Asians including Chinese, Japanese
IC6  Arab, Egyptian and Maghreb
IC0 unknown appearance