Sexual misconduct and corruption among allegations made against Staffordshire Police
Sexual misconduct, discrimination and corruption were among hundreds of allegations made about Staffordshire Police last year.
The public made 1,322 complaints about Staffordshire Police in 2020/21, according to Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) figures published earlier this month.
These are the first complaints statistics to be published since moving to a new system of recording complaints, under new regulations within the Policing and Crime Act, which came into force in February 2020.
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Under the new system, any expression of dissatisfaction by a member of the public about the service they have received from a police force is logged as a complaint.
These can either be dealt with informally, or recorded formally if the allegation is more serious, the complainant wants it recorded or they were unhappy with the initial handling – with Staffordshire Police recording 433 formal complaints last year.
The total 1,322 complaints made to the force in 2020/21 covered 1,968 allegations. The most common cause for complaint was delivery of duties and services, such as decisions made by police or their actions after contact with the public, covering 912 allegations.
Staffordshire Police also received two allegations relating to sexual conduct, which includes alleged assaults and harassment, 33 relating to alleged discriminatory behaviour, and 28 relating to alleged abuse of position or corruption.
Information on outcomes isn’t broken down by police force, however, 1,762 allegations against Staffordshire Police were finalised (when the complainant is notified about the outcome and any planned action) in 2020/21.
Of these, 1,046 were dealt with informally. Of those dealt with as part of formally recorded complaints, 702 were resolved without investigation, and 14 were finalised after an investigation.
Across England and Wales, 67,732 complaint cases were logged in 2020/21, and 36,365 of these were recorded formally, covering 109,151 allegations.
A total of 38,982 people serving with the police were subject to a complaint – 67per cent of those complained about were male and where their ethnicity was known, 81per cent were white.
A spokesperson from Staffordshire police said: “Public confidence in our officers and staff is of the utmost importance to us and we take all complaints extremely seriously. We expect the highest standards of professional behaviour from our officers, staff and volunteers at all times.
“We understand that as a learning organisation there is a constant need to review our processes to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to our communities and address areas for improvement quickly and with due diligence.
“We continually look to improve our complaint handling procedures and work closely with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to identify any areas for development.
“Our complaints are regularly scrutinized both internally and externally by independent panels and also by the office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. This is to ensure the integrity and transparency of our investigations and also to maintain the drive to improve our processes.
“Recent investments have seen improvements in our technology and an increase in the number of investigators within our Professional Standards Department providing real time data to address organisational and individual learning.
“The public can access our complaints system via our website, in writing or by email, by telephone or to a member of our front office staff or to an officer in person.”
Police across the country recorded 128 allegations of sexual assault and 23 allegations of sexual harassment last year.
There were also 3,764 reports of discriminatory behaviour, with the majority (2,375) relating to racial discrimination.
Police were also accused of obstructing justice 666 times and organisational corruption 190 times, while there were 634 allegations of abuse of position, including for financial purpose (53), for sexual purpose (52), and for the purpose of pursuing an inappropriate emotional relationship (35).
Police forces finalised 32,012 allegations in complaint cases that were handled informally, 45,205 allegations were handled formally but not investigated, and 6,533 allegations were investigated formally.
