More than 90 police officers and staff were found guilty of crimes after complaints or conduct investigations last year, including for sexual offences, corruption and violence against the person, new statistics show.
The figures, released by the Home Office, detailed the outcomes of criminal proceedings against police officers and staff in the year to April 2022. It revealed 68 police officers were found guilty, as well as 25 police staff.
This will have included the former officer Wayne Couzens, who was handed a whole-life sentence in October 2021 for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard after he abducted her from a London street.
A total of 10 officers and three police staff were prosecuted for violence against the person, with 10 officers and two staff guilty of sexual offences. The most common type of crime was traffic offences, with 23 officers and 11 staff found guilty, and four officers and three staff were found guilty of general misconduct in public office.
Two police officers were found guilty of corruption, as well as one member of police staff. A further three officers were found guilty of forgery.
The figures only include cases that stemmed from a complaint, conduct matter or recordable conduct matter – so the total figures for convicted officers could be even higher.
A total of 589 allegations against police officers resulted in a finding of gross misconduct over the year, and a further 680 resulted in a finding of misconduct. However, only 500 allegations resulted in an officer being dismissed from the force – or would have led to their dismissal if they were still working.
The figures cover a difficult year for the police – in particular London’s Metropolitan police. In June 2021, the force was accused of being institutionally corrupt by an independent inquiry set up to review the murder of the private detective Daniel Morgan.
In February 2022, the then chief constable, Dame Cressida Dick, was forced out after a scandal at Charing Cross police station, where officers shared racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic messages.
Last summer, the Met was placed in special measures by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, while in November 2022, former officers Jonathon Cobban and Joel Borders were sentenced to three months in prison after being found guilty of sharing racist, homophobic, misogynistic and ableist messages in a WhatsApp group with Couzens.
There were 115,235 complaints made by the public against 76,831 individual police officers in the year to March 2022 – equivalent to more than half of the total number of officers in England and Wales.
Of these, 87,786 might have justified misconduct proceedings if proven, constituted a criminal offence or resulted in death or injury. However, 0.2% of those resulted in misconduct proceedings, and just 16 led to a dismissal – or would have led to their dismissal if they were still an officer.
A total of 10,457 public allegations related to police use of force, while 2,683 related to racial discrimination. There were 214 allegations related to sexual conduct.
Male officers accounted for 72% of the complaints, making up 67% of the force. Some officers were the subject of more than one complaint.
Ch Supt Andy Walker, the head of uniformed policing at the College of Policing, said: “With these misconduct figures in the public domain, I hope it can help to reassure our communities that policing takes misconduct very seriously, and any officers or staff who breach professional standards are being held to account.
“There are a number of College of Policing measures in place to tackle misconduct such as the Barred List which prevents dismissed officers or staff from re-entering the service. There’s also a code of ethics that sets the standards of behaviour for everyone in policing and empowers officers and staff to challenge any colleagues who are falling short of these standards regardless of rank, role or position.
“Misconduct guidance has also been updated to ensure anyone in policing who behaves in a way that damages the public’s confidence in the service are held to account and receive robust sanctions for their actions.”
