Misconduct (629A/23)
Request
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from your police force.
1) How many serving police officers (at the time of the charge) have been convicted of a serious or violent crime – rape, stalking, assault etc, in 2023 thus far, 2022 and 2021.
2) How many police officers have been sacked as a result of a criminal conviction for a serious or violent crime in 2023 thus far, 2022 and 2021.
Please provide a breakdown of the type of crimes each officer was convicted for.
Clarification received 02/05/2023:
I realise officers are not charged or convicted at the same time. I am asking how many police officers (at the time of charge) have been convicted. That’s because before a conviction they may have already been dismissed or left. So I’m asking about serving police officers being charged.
And in relation to 2), I’m asking for any serious crime you deem serious. So if you deem all charges and convictions as serious, then please provide all with a breakdown.
Response
Please find attached our response.
In addition to the attached response, please be advised that we want our officers to uphold the highest of standards so the public has the utmost confidence in them.
It is important to note the force operates under the Police Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Behaviour. This includes challenging any inappropriate behaviour or action which would discredit the police service or undermine public confidence in policing.
Our Professional Standards department take a robust stance and are committed to rooting out abuse of power, criminality and corruption whenever we find evidence of it. This is done by carrying out thorough investigations, offering support and dealing appropriately with anyone found to be acting in an inappropriate manner.
We must do everything we can to maintain public confidence and trust in policing. This will provide reassurance to the public that we mean it when we say we’ll do all we can to preserve and rebuild trust.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.