Police officers accused of sexual misconduct
Dear Bedfordshire Police,
I am emailing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
Please disclose details of official complaints in the following categories, made against serving police officers in the force under your remit in 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 so far:
- Sexual assault
- Sexual harassment
- Rape
- Child sex offences
- Other sexual misconduct
Specifically, for each category, please disclose:
1) How many accusations were made against serving police officers
2) How many allegations were upheld
3) How many of these upheld charges resulted in formal disciplinary action, and what actions they were
4) Please also break this down by a) the sex of the accused, b) the seniority of the accused
5) Please say whether the complaint was made by a) member of the public b) police officer/ member of police staff
Please send the above in excel format, separated out by year.
With best wishes,
Patricia Clarke
Dear Patricia Clarke,
I am writing in response to your request for information, received 16th
December.
Yours sincerely,
Sharron Woodward
J Roberts left an annotation ()
Something I found interesting about the police complaints procedure which I learned from a YouTuber. He complained about an MPS officer and received the following:
'DC did not provide a response to the Heads of Complaints you decided upon.
Whilst usually officers assist with complaints by providing responses to give their version of events, they do not actually have to to provide a response and comply with complaint investigations if they choose not to.'
The MPS has also revealed that 'all complaints are resulted and concluded irrespective of the officers response and their level of engagement is not recorded'.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Remove the Rot: Refuge investigation uncovers magnitude of police force’s failure to tackle violent misogyny by police officers and staff
"Refuge asked ‘How many more bad apples?’ and called for immediate reform of the police and the way they deal with violence against women and girls and domestic abuse, including the immediate suspension of all police officers and staff accused of these crimes.
...
From 1 May 2022 to 1 May 2023, there were 1,124 cases of VAWG-related misconduct or gross misconduct across the 26 police forces in England and Wales which provided data in response to Refuge’s FOI request.
Only 24% of police officers and staff accused of violence against women and girls-related misconduct were suspended pending the outcome of an investigation."
https://refuge.org.uk/news/rremove-the-r...
An International Journal of Research and Policy
London, you have a problem with women: trust towards the police in England
17/4/24
'Using a survey of multiple waves of over 8000 combined respondents conducted from July 2022 to September 2023, we find that in the parts of England outside of London, only 44% of women trust the police. p2
...
Our findings place a further perspective on the findings in the Casey review and suggest that the problem is much more substantial.' p13
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Misconduct hearings
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...
Officers on the Barred List
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...
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J Roberts left an annotation ()
Harriet Wistrich from the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) writing in the Guardian (18/1/23) about the super-complaint her organisation made:
'At that time we were looking at a sample of 19 cases from police forces across the country. Since then, we have been contacted by nearly 200 women who were victims of domestic abuse or sexual offences by police officers.'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Police complaints Statistics for England and Wales 2021/22
(Experimental statistics)
Published 17 Nov 2022
https://policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/defau...
https://policeconduct.gov.uk/news/iopc-d...
Table 6: Number of allegations logged - what has been complained about in 2021/22
Bedfordshire - sexual conduct - 0
Police misconduct, England and Wales: year ending 31 March 2022
Published 12 January 2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...
One force is using Crimestoppers to catch officers:
'Contact the Hotline on 0800 085 0000 or online to provide information you have about a Metropolitan Police Service police officer or member of police staff...'
https://news.met.police.uk/news/the-met-...
https://crimestoppers-uk.org/campaigns-m...
The Sun
'A HOTLINE to report abuse complaints against Met cops after the PC David Carrick rape scandal has had 700 in a day.
...
Last night, sources stressed that of that figure only around 10 are so far being referred on for further action.'
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21090026/h...
HMICFRS report:
An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service
Published on: 2 November 2022
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/...
'Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the then Home Secretary commissioned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) under section 54(2B) of the Police Act 1996 to assess current vetting and counter-corruption capacity and capability in policing across England and Wales. This was to include forces’ ability to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour.
We were asked to consider current vetting (and re-vetting), arrangements for transferees, whistleblowing arrangements, the work of counter-corruption units and, where relevant, wider Professional Standards '
IOPC:
Statement in response to HMICFRS report into vetting, misconduct and misogyny in policing
https://policeconduct.gov.uk/news/statem...
Only 1% of complaints about police lead to proceedings, Home Office reveals
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022...
IPCC (now IOPC):
The abuse of police powers to perpetrate sexual violence (2012)
https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/d...