Are Police vetting decisions free from bias? An experimental vignette study with vetting decision-makers

Abstract This paper asks whether police vetting decision-makers are influenced by ethnic characteristics of applicants. Using seven vignette scenarios and random allocation of applicant ethnicity and name ( n = 1,778 decisions), we were able to test whether applicant-stated ethnicity and name affected vetting decisions. We found that in five of seven scenarios ethnicity did not influence vetting approval. However, in two scenarios we found that ethnic minority group membership led to lower vetting approval rates compared to the reference group of White applicants. This study, the first to test vetting decision-makers experimentally, illustrates that ethnic group membership can affect vetting approval decisions in more complex situations. Implications for training, practice and policy are discussed and we set out some options for reducing the risk of bias and how this work has informed policy in this area.