Officer and Staff Convictions (1429A/23)
Request
(1) How many police officers and staff joined your force between 2020 and 2023 who had convictions prior to joining?
1(a) If it is doable under the time limit, are you able to break these numbers down into what convictions officers faced?
1(b) If permissible under data protection, are you also able to break these numbers down into gender and rank? (for staff ‘CIV’ will suffice)
(2) How many police officers and staff have received convictions (for any reason) since joining between 2020-2023
2(a) If possible please break down this number by conviction received.
2(b) Please also state how many of these officers were dismissed (or would have been dismissed) before, during or after conviction.
If any of this goes outside of the 18 hour window, I would appreciate 1a and 1b to be prioritised if possible.
Response
Please find attached our response (1429A_Attachment).
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.
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.
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.