Sexual Misconduct Complaints Against Police Officers & Staff 2015 - 2021

Keywords

Sexual, Misconduct, Complaints, Officers, Staff, Public, PCSO, Special, Constables, Contractors, Employees, Gender, Rank, Grade, Offence, Harassing, Inappropriate, Texts, Indecent, Assaults, Rape, Location, Outcome, Investigation, Referred, IPCC, Dismissed, Suspended, Resigned, Transferred, Victim.

Publication Number

PUB 1460

FOI Reference Number

15522

Request Title

Sexual Misconduct Complaints Against Police Officers & Staff 2015 - 2021

Date Range

2015 to 2021

Information Requested

I am seeking the total number of complaints of rape, sexual assault or other forms of sexual misconduct against police officers* and police staff*. I seek this in two categories which I would like to be separated in the response:

a)     where the complainant is also a member of the police service, and

      b) where the complainant is a member of the public.

Please provide figures for the past five years if possible, whether calendar or financial years [whichever way they are collated]. Please include the most recent figures available for the past 12 months, even if it is not complete.

[*For the avoidance of doubt, I request complaints made against officers, PCSOs, special constables, police staff and contractors to the force - either as direct employees or through employment agencies]

For each case please state if possible:

-       The gender and rank or grade of the officer or staff member

-       The nature of the alleged offence and any context if possible [whether it be harassing emails, sending inappropriate text messages, rape, indecent assault, indecent images etc].

-       The location where the alleged offence took place – i.e custody suite, police station etc

-       Whether the alleged misconduct took place on or off duty

-       The outcome of each investigation i.e. charges [please state where convicted and provide name of the officer if possible], suspension, whether referred to the IPCC, dismissed, suspended, resigned, transferred etc

In the case of a) where the complainant is a member of the police service, please state their gender and rank or grade [insofar as this is possible given identification issues]

In the case of b) where the complainant is a member of the public, please state whether the complainant was a victim of crime, witness to crime, or other category

Disclosure with Exemptions

Full Refusal with Section 12 Exemption

Information Correct as at

12 August 2022

Date of Disclosure

12 August 2022

Related Documents/Links

N/A

FOI 15522 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)

Refusal – Section 17(5) Exemption – Section 12(1) 

Reasoning – 

Although cases will be individually identified and managed within the Centurion system as cases are investigated, to extract data and further accurately filter out those relevant to this request especially over the timeframe requested and based on the old strands of recording within the timescales within the FOI act would be excessive.

Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not primarily designed for the production of statistical information. This request would entail manually extracting the requested data and reviewing each record, Pre Feb 2020 allegations & complaints although recorded as Sexual Assault may also fall under other categories such as discreditable conduct, it is difficult to extract those cases if recorded within other strands. All strands could capture the data, therefore all cases would need to be reviewed and in some cases interpretation made, this process would exceed the time and cost limits under the FOIA and would also qualify as the creation of data as the results cannot be processed accurately by purely sorting or filtering data sources or running a database query tool. There is no requirement under the act to create data purely to answer FOI requests.

From February 2020 new regulations came into practice, and as such, new complaint strand headings were put in place which provide clearer understanding and extraction , for instance,  Sexual related strands are now recorded as J. Please see Statutory guidance on the police complaints system (policeconduct.gov.uk)

Duty to assist – When refusing a request on cost Section 12 and in an effort to assist under Section 16 please note the following which will assist in the understanding of recording in respect of Professional Standard data and future refinement of requests;

It may be beneficial to request a shorter timescale after the new complaint categories were introduced.

Pre 2020 data - Strands can be extracted together with keywords however again as mentioned above there is a high degree of inaccuracy based on the terminology and interpretation used in a summary recorded from the allegation, complaint or misconduct.

Post 2020 data Statistics follow the published guidelines based on the set 11 Complaint Categories A-L with 45 sub-categories and Misconduct Categories. You may wish to view the links provided below before resubmission which explain more regarding complaint categories and strands

Outside of the act and in 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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