Officers Charged Convicted for Sexual Offences - 03.03.21 to 04.04.22

Keywords

Officers, Charged, Convicted, Offences, Rape, Assault, Penetration, Child, Sexual, Abuse, Extreme, Pornography, Private, Images, Indecent, Children, Offence, Gender, Accused, Victim, Employed.

Publication Number

PUB 1459

FOI Reference Number

16934

Request Title

Officers Charged Convicted for Sexual Offences - 03.03.21 to 04.04.22

Date Range

March 2021 to April 2022

Information Requested

1.  Since 3 March 2021 (until today), how many serving police officers have been charged or convicted for any of the following offences: rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, extreme pornography, disclosing private sexual images without consent, indecent images of children.

Please break this information down by type of offence and the gender of both the accused and victim.

2. How many officers charged with or convicted of any of those offences within this timeframe are still employed by the police force.

Disclosure with Exemptions

Part Disclosure with Section 31, Section 40 and Section 44 Exemptions

Information Correct as at

17 May 2022

Date of Disclosure

12 August 2022

Related Documents/Links

N/A   

FOI 16934 Response

FOI Duty 

First Duty – Essex Police holds information relating to your request. 

Second Duty – See below.  

Fact – Centurion is a database used by force Professional Standards Departments. Cases are individually identified, investigated and managed within the Centurion system by Professional Standards overseen by management or the Appropriate Authority.

Post 2020 data Statistics follow the published guidelines based on the set 11 Complaint Categories A-L with 45 sub-categories and Misconduct Categories. Please see Statutory guidance on the police complaints system (policeconduct.gov.uk)

Exemptions

Section 31(a)(g) Law Enforcement

Section 40(2) Personal Information

Section 44(1) Prohibitions on Disclosure

Data reported for the timeframe 03 March 2021 to 05/04/2022:

Caveat: The data is correct as at 17/05/2022.

Question1:  One officer, currently suspended

Question 2:  One officer, currently suspended

No further information will be provided by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 31(a)(g) Law enforcement

Section 40(2) Personal Information

Section 44 (1) Prohibitions on Disclosure

Section 31(1)(g) Law enforcement by virtue of section 31(2)(b)

Section 31(1)(g) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of Section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this act would, or would likely to, prejudice the exercise of any public authority of its functions for any purpose specified in subsection (2) (2)

The purposes referred to in subsection (1)(g) are:-

(a) The purpose of ascertaining whether any person has failed to comply with the law

(b) The purpose of ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct which is improper

Evidence of Harm

Essex Police are charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities we serve. Disclosing details of ongoing investigations would impact on the effectiveness of police procedures and investigations thereby hindering the prevention and detection of crime.

Section 31 – factors favouring disclosure

The disclosure of details relating to investigations involving Police Officers and Police Staff would provide the public with reassurance that the Constabularies take all reports of crimes seriously and that these are managed appropriately, ensuring all relevant enquiries are undertaken. Additionally, the disclosure of investigation details would increase public confidence and could result in more people coming forward with information this would in turn assist investigations and lead to more successful prosecutions. Consideration is also made as Investigations are conducted using public funds therefore disclosing information provides transparency of the way public money is used.

Section 31 – factors against disclosure

Information relating to specific investigations which have not resulted in a prosecution is rarely provided under the FOI Act as it could lead to the identification of those involved, including victims, witnesses and suspects. It is vital that information continues to be received from victims and witnesses when carrying out investigations and they may be reluctant to provide information if they believe that details relating to the investigation could be released, via an FOI request.

Releasing the details under the FOIA and, therefore making the information public, could hinder any current or future investigations undertaken..

Balance Test

Any investigations which relate to Police Officers or Police Staff, including the way in which these are conducted, will be of significant public interest. Therefore providing the details would show openness and transparency which are fundamental elements of the Freedom of Information Act. Where victims and witnesses have confidence that enquiries are being appropriately managed they would be more likely to come forward and report incidents. However, significant public funds are required to carry out investigations and appropriate processes are in place to adequately conduct investigations, Essex Police will not release details that could hinder this process.

Essex Police will not provide any further breakdown or information as the exemptions under FOI Section 40(2) Personal Information and Section 44(1) information covered by Prohibitions on disclosure such as the Sexual Offences (amendment) act 1992 which provides anonymity to victims of sexual offences.  

Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete.  However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries.  Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies.  Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.

In an effort to assist you may find the following of additional interest -  

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) holds the Police Force to account and has the legal power to hold the Chief Constable to account. 

The conduct of a Police Officer or a Police Staff member is an important issue and Essex Police regularly receive FOI requests regarding misconduct and complaints both the PFCC and the Police Service need to be accountable and transparent regarding this issue. 

In respect of violence against women girls (VAWG), Essex Police, the Fire and Crime Commissioner have been working with the National VAWG multi-agency to analyse our data and provide a data return. The following article will provide more context and information

Policing violence against women and girls - National framework for delivery: Year 1 (npcc.police.uk)

Data is regularly published via quarterly reports, please click on the following link:  Conduct & Professional Standards - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)

Misconduct hearings and upcoming hearing:  https://www.essex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/mis/misconduct-hearings/ 

FOI Publications:  https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/accessing-information/published-items?q=misconduct 

Essex Police have an expectation that management and staff at all levels will lead by example, consistently displaying behaviour in line with the Code of Ethics | College of Policing and ensuring adherence to legal requirements and to all Essex Police policies, procedures and practices.  Through Prevention, Intelligence, Enforcement, Communication and Engagement, Essex Police is committed to making sure the opportunity for corruption is reduced to the lowest possible risk.  Where corruption is identified the organisation will deal with it proportionately and effectively.   

A member of the public can lodge a complaint regarding conduct with the Professional Standards Department (PSD), please see below link: https://www.essex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/c/complaints/ 

Internal conduct cases (from staff v staff) are managed by Human Resources (HR) who will, if necessary, refer to PSD for formal assessment.  If formal misconduct is identified, HR will manage the investigation, however, PSD will decide on whether there is a case to answer through a disciplinary process.  Dependant on the circumstances, it can be in various forms, from an informal warning to a formal disciplinary hearing.  Formal misconduct cases are recorded by PSD on the conduct database.

If a complaint is about the conduct of a Police Officer or member of Police Staff made from a member of the public, the complaint will be managed by PSD and dealt with by either the policing area or department it relates to, through a local resolution or a local investigation.  This can subsequently be appealed to either the Chief Constable or the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) depending on the specifics of the individual case if the complainant remains dissatisfied.  If local resolution is not appropriate and the complaint considered serious, the complaint will be investigated by PSD.  Essex Police can also refer matters to the IOPC who may decide to independently investigate certain cases. 

Additional mandatory referrals and requested reviews can also be viewed via the IOPC web site. 

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