Officer allegations of sexual harassment (467A/20 )
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act about allegations of sexual harassment made against police officers, special constables and police community support officers in your force by members of the public during encounters such as stop and search, arrest, questioning and so on.
1 How many accusations of sexual misconduct have been made by the public against police officers, special constables and police community support officers in your force, each year for the last five years for which data is available?
If possible, please break down the data by category of alleged behaviour. If this is not possible, please specify the types of allegation that the broad term sexual misconduct could include, for example sexual assault, exploitation of victims and so on.
2 Do you record a. the gender and b. the ethnicity of the complainant?
3 If yes to Q2, please break down the data in this way too. If you do not collect this level of data, please specify. If you do collect the data, but are not able to disclose it, please explain why.
4 Do you record a. the gender and b. the ethnicity of the officer accused?
5 If yes to Q 4, please would you provide this level of detail in the data? If you do not collect this level of data, please specify.
6 Of these accusations, how many were upheld each year?
Response
Please note that these data should be interpreted with caution.
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.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
*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, carrying out thorough investigations, offering support and dealing appropriately with anyone found to be acting in an appropriate manner .