Figure 8. Tracking missing ethnic appearance records in search data over time

The search records we obtained are missing ethnic appearance records in between 39-45% of cases. Victoria Police only collect ethnic appearance when they search people, not when a vehicle is searched on its own. By removing all the vehicle only search records, the number of missing records is reduced to under 20%. The percentage of missing ethic appearance records have remained relatively consistent across the four years of data. In 2019, Victoria Police made collection of ethnic appearance records mandatory. Data records from before and after 2019 (Figure 7) reveals that this policy has done little to increase the recording of ethnic appearance by Victoria Police members.