More than 1,100 officers under investigation for sexual or domestic abuse in England and Wales
As one in seven accused of offences keep working, Lib Dems call on home secretary James Cleverly for ‘radical overhaul’ of vetting
More than 1,100 police officers across England and Wales are under investigation for sexual or domestic abuse, prompting fresh calls for vetting and misconduct procedures to be radically overhauled.
Of these, 180 – almost one in seven – have been allowed to carry on working as normal despite the severity of the offences. Of the 1,151 officers under investigation, 428 have been placed on restricted duties, with another 378 suspended.
The highest number of officers under investigation is from the largest force, the Metropolitan police, with 657 individuals accused of sexual or domestic abuse, or both.
At the start of the year, amid outrage after Met PC David Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences including dozens of rapes and sexual offences, the force said it was investigating 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims involving about 800 officers.
The new figures come nine months after the publication of the Casey report, which strongly criticised the internal culture and standards of behaviour within the Met.
Pronouncing the force guilty of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, the report included recommendations for revamping its vetting and misconduct procedures.
Since then the Met has adopted a new process to consider dismissing officers who can no longer pass vetting, with fresh vetting reviews more easily triggered.
In addition, the details of all 50,000 Met employees have been checked against more than 5bn intelligence records held on the police national database.
However, the Liberal Democrats – who collated the data via a series of freedom of information (FoI) responses – said the responsibility for fundamental change was with James Cleverly, the home secretary.
Wendy Chamberlain – Lib Dem MP and former police officer – said: “Ultimately, the buck stops with the home secretary. It’s up to him to ensure vetting and misconduct procedures are radically overhauled, and that there’s proper transparency around how many officers are working as normal while under investigation.”
The true total of officers in England and Wales under investigation for such offences will be far higher, because only 28 out of 43 forces responded to FoI requests.
Greater Manchester police, the third biggest police force, was among those that did not respond. Durham, Essex, Northumbria and Northamptonshire all refused to cooperate with the requests from the Lib Dems for information.
The party said it had been urging the home secretary, London mayor Sadiq Khan and the head of the Met to produce an urgent plan to implement the Casey report’s recommendations while encouraging other police forces to do the same.
Chamberlain is also demanding that Cleverly require police forces to regularly publish figures on how many officers under investigation for sexual or domestic abuse are still on normal duties.
Chamberlain said: “These shocking figures should be a wake-up call – due to both the sheer number of officers under investigation for these crimes and the number for whom it’s business as usual.
“If the Conservatives were serious about delivering this change, they would use the criminal justice bill.
A Home Office spokesperson said it was bringing forward changes to the disciplinary system that would give chief constables greater powers to “root out officers who are not fit to serve”.
A spokesperson for the Met said it was the first force in the UK to adopt a new process to consider dismissing officers who can no longer pass vetting “and who, as a result, have lost the Commissioner’s confidence”.
“If an officer or staff member can no longer meet the minimal vetting requirement, they will be unable to fulfil the duties expected as part of their role which may result in a finding of gross incompetence. Such a finding could lead to dismissal.“So far, 30 officers are being looked at as part of the operation and it is likely that number will increase to around 100 as the work progresses.”
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