IC codes or 6+1 codes are codes used by the British police in radio communications to describe the apparent ethnicity of a suspect. Originating in the late 1970s, the codes are based on a police officer's perceived view of an individual's ethnicity based on a visual assessment, as opposed to that individual's self-definition. In most circumstances where an individual's ethnicity is recorded after spoken contact with police (such as a "Stop and Search" or arrest), police are required to use the more extensive "16+1" Self Defined Ethnicity codes, "even if the category chosen is clearly at odds with the officer’s visual assessment".