Sexual Misconduct Cases Against Police Officers 2017 - 2021
Keywords
Sexual, Misconduct, Accused, Sex, Duty, Assault, Harassment, Rape, IOPC, Reported, Outcome, Dismissed, Resigned, Written, Warning.
Publication Number
PUB 1457
FOI Reference Number
15627
Request Title
Sexual Misconduct Cases Against Police Officers 2017 - 2021
Date Range
2017 to 2021
Information Requested
1. Please provide the number of police officers, PCSOs and special constables who have been accused of sexual misconduct within your force for the financial years 2017-18 to 2020-21. Please provide this data broken down by financial year.
2. Of those cases, please provide:
a) The type of sexual misconduct reported, i.e. having sex on duty, sexual assault, sexual harrassment, rape.
b) The number of cases referred to the IOPC
c) The number of cases where the officer had previously been reported for misconduct.
3. Of those cases not referred to the IOPC, please provide the outcome, i.e. dismissed, resigned, written warning etc.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Part Disclosure
Information Correct as at
18 February 2022
Date of Disclosure
30 March 2022
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 15627 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does not hold information all of the information relating to your part of your request in a format that can be extracted without the creation of data, please see the following data that can be provided under section 1(1)(b)
Caveat: Data is correct as at 18.2.22
In Feb 2020 new regulations came into practice, and as such new complaint strand headings. 2020_statutory_guidance Sexual related strands are recorded as J.
Data pre Feb 2020, some allegations are recorded under Sexual Assault but other fall under other categories, a keyword search has been used to extract those sexual allegations as the description headers were broader and did not allow for specific criteria you have requested to be extracted easily from a strand heading. There will therefore be a degree of inaccuracy in the data extracted based on the terminology and interpretation used in the summary. Comparison from the 2020 data to previous data should include a degree of caution due to the change in recording methods. The keywords used are as follows,
Grope, Vagina, Breast, Rape, Touch, Harass, Stroke, Stroking, Domestic, Kiss, Genitals, Rub
Sexual, Inappropriate, Relationship, Vulnerable, Child Abuse, Exploitation
Manual examination of records was undertaken to make sure the context met with the above requirement
Cases again Public or Colleague
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, the system used to record complaints and misconduct cases is designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Due to limitations in regard to the recording fields and the change of recording, data extraction may be subject to inaccuracies and care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
2017 - 2018
1. Please provide the number of police officers, PCSOs and special constables who have been accused of sexual misconduct within your force – There have been 8 allegations of sexual misconduct for this time period. 5 were public complaints, 3 were conduct records. All of the allegations were against police officers at the rank of constable.
2. Of those cases, please provide: The type of sexual misconduct reported, i.e. having sex on duty, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape - 5 of the allegations are in relation to sexual assaults on members of the public. It needs to be noted that this includes allegations of sexual assault whilst carrying out a strip search in custody. One of the allegations is an officer accused of grooming a minor, one officer who has been accused of assaulting his wife, one allegation of an inappropriate relationship with a member of the public.
The number of cases referred to the IOPC - 4
The number of cases where the officer had previously been reported for misconduct - 2 Not sexual misconduct
3. Of those cases not referred to the IOPC, please provide the outcome, i.e. dismissed, resigned, written warning etc – 4
Complaint not upheld – AA reviewed BWV/IO report and satisfied no concerns
Complaint withdrawn x 2
No case to answer – determined by AA
2018-2019
1. Please provide the number of police officers, PCSOs and special constables who have been accused of sexual misconduct within your force – There have been 8 allegations of sexual misconduct for this time period. 2 were public complaints, 6 were conduct records. All of the allegations were against police officers, 6 at the rank of constable, 2 at the rank of Sgt.
2. Of those cases, please provide: The type of sexual misconduct reported, i.e. having sex on duty, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape – 2 of the allegations are in relation to sexual assaults on members of the public whilst carrying out a search in custody. 4 allegations relate to sexual assault allegations by one officer against the other, 2 are abuse of position.
The number of cases referred to the IOPC – 7 referred, one of which was referred voluntarily.
The number of cases where the officer had previously been reported for misconduct – 3 – not sexual misconduct, 1 coercive and controlling behaviour against a female colleague,
3. Of those cases not referred to the IOPC, please provide the outcome, i.e. dismissed, resigned, written warning etc - No case to answer
2019-2020
1. Please provide the number of police officers, PCSOs and special constables who have been accused of sexual misconduct within your force – There have been 13 allegations of sexual misconduct. 3 relate to police staff so will not be referenced.
2. Of those cases, please provide: The type of sexual misconduct reported, i.e. having sex on duty, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape – 3 allegations are abuse of position, 1 rape, 6 sexual assaults,
The number of cases referred to the IOPC – 8 referred to the IOPC
The number of cases where the officer had previously been reported for misconduct - 0
3. Of those cases not referred to the IOPC, please provide the outcome, i.e. dismissed, resigned, written warning etc – Dismissal, complaint not upheld – adjudicated by AA
2020-2021
1. Please provide the number of police officers, PCSOs and special constables who have been accused of sexual misconduct within your force – There have been 9 allegations of sexual misconduct for this time period. 5 were public complaints, 4 were conduct records. 8 allegations are against warranted officers at the rank of constable, one allegation is in relation to a police staff member. This allegation will not be included in the below due to the FOI only asking for officers.
2. Of those cases, please provide: The type of sexual misconduct reported, i.e. having sex on duty, sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape - 6 of the allegations are in relation to sexual assault, 2 relate to abuse of position. The sexual assault allegations are mainly inappropriate touching during a search. There is one allegation of one officer sexually touching another whilst on duty.
The number of cases referred to the IOPC - 7
The number of cases where the officer had previously been reported for misconduct - 2 – not sexual misconduct
3. Of those cases not referred to the IOPC, please provide the outcome, i.e. dismissed, resigned, written warning etc - No action due to lack of verified information.
Sexual Misconduct - For any member of the Police Service to pursue a sexual or improper relationship with a member of the public is an abuse of their position. It sees them move from protector to predator; violating the public trust that we all know is so crucial and undermining the professionalism of their colleagues. The national plan, signed off by every Chief Constable sets out how we prevent this form of abuse – treating it as serious corruption, proactive monitoring of use of Police systems, work with agencies who work with vulnerable people to encourage them to share concerns with us and confidential reporting lines. Any reports will be fully investigated. Those who are found to have committed misconduct could face dismissal and prosecution.
There are limitations in regard the type, terminology and detail of information that can be extracted and provided under the FOIA in addition to data already available and published. The FOIA does not require new data to be created in order to comply with a request, therefore, any request that falls outside of the strands, coding and misconduct categories is likely to be qualify as the creation of data or potentially attract the excess cost exemptions. No further breakdown will be provided in the respect of the above tables by virtue of Section 40(2) Personal Information, release could breach an individual’s data protection rights with Section 44(1)(a) Information covered by Prohibitions on Disclosure (prohibited by or under any enactment) This would be in relation to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 in relation the restrictions placed on court reporting as well as the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992. Section 5 of the Sexual Offenders Act 92 creates offences which are concerned with the breaches of the anonymity protection granted to victims by section 1. The impact of disclosure has been considered above on the status of an investigation in respect of the effective delivery of operational law enforcement (for a criminal investigation) or Section 31(1)(g) Law enforcement by virtue of 2(b) the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct which is improper for ongoing misconduct cases.
Essex Police regularly receive FOI requests regarding misconduct and complaints. The conduct of a Police Officer or a Police Staff member is an important issue and the following will provide further information.
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 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/
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.
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.
The 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. This is an important issue and both the PFCC and the Police Service need to be accountable and transparent regarding this issue. Data is regularly published via quarterly reports, please click on the following link:
https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/finance-reporting/conduct-professional-standards/
Please note that the system used to manage complaints and investigations is designed to follow the national guidelines regarding reporting. Statistics, therefore, follow the published guidelines based on the set 11 Complaint Categories A-L with 45 sub-categories and Misconduct Categories. Complaint and misconduct data are recorded pre strand in a case. It does not cover each Officer allegation within a separate complaint. Each complaint or misconduct case is likely to have more than one complaint/misconduct strand or category and could include multiple Officers subject to a complaint strand.
Additional mandatory referrals and requested reviews can also be viewed via the IOPC web site. The following link provides useful data and explains further regarding coding and strands of misconduct and complaints:
https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/tags/essex-police
The IOPC publish the number of complaint cases broken down by force, the most recent data is for the 2019/20 year – please see below link:
Police complaints statistics | Independent Office for Police Conduct
To increase openness and transparency misconduct hearings are now held in public, (although in exceptional circumstances they can be held in private). This decision was announced by the Home Secretary in the spring of 2015 and applies to all cases where an Officer is given notice to attend a hearing after May 2015. Further information regarding misconduct hearings and upcoming hearings can also be found via the following links:
https://www.essex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/mis/misconduct-hearings/
All gross misconduct hearings are chaired by an independent Legally Qualified Chair. It is entirely the LQC’s decision as to whether reporting restrictions apply.
There is no policy preventing victims from talking to other parties following misconduct proceedings, unless reporting restrictions applied, in which case they would be obliged to adhere to set restrictions
Reporting restrictions are subject to s39 of The Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).
https://www.essex.police.uk/foi-ai/af/accessing-information/published-items?q=misconduct
Essex Police trusts that the links and information provided is of assistance. Thank you for your interest in Essex Police