5 Shocking Stats About Sexual Misconduct & Domestic Abuse In The Police Force

Following the sentencing of serving police officer Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard, conversations about the safety of women and sexual misconduct within the police have hit the headlines. While the Home Office will conduct a public inquiry into Everard’s death alongside an independent inquiry led by Baroness Louise Carey into the Metropolitan Police as a whole, reports into the scale of the problem suggest much more needs to be done both within the police and in the society it reflects.

In September 2021, iNews published a set of alarming statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which revealed that over 600 allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse were made against police officers from 41 out of 43 forces in 2018. The Metropolitan Police had the highest number of allegations, against 269 officers and members of staff.

A month after these findings, data obtained from 31 police forces in England, Wales, and Scotland found at least 750 allegations of sexual misconduct made against serving officers over the past 11 years. Obtained by PA Media’s Radar service under the Freedom of Information Act, the data made an even stronger case for drastic police reform. In these findings, a Met recorded 530 allegations of sexual offences between 2016 and 2020.

The Met police said in a statement that such allegations are taken “extremely seriously and they are regularly scrutinised at a senior level,” and that “any allegation, disclosure or conviction or sexual harassment or abuse perpetrated by an officer or member of staff is robustly investigated.”

The disturbing statistics make clear the need for an overhaul in the policing system. “These are not one or two isolated incidents but evidence of an institutionally sexist culture where misogyny goes unchecked,” Reclaim These Streets said in a statement. “These figures should be a wake-up call for British policing, and we challenge every police leader in the country to reflect on whether they are genuinely doing all they can to protect women.”

Police forces across the country have since been told by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to review all allegations of sexual misconduct, indecent exposure, and domestic abuse over the last two years amidst claims of allegations not being investigated throughly enough or cases being covered up by colleagues. Mark Hewitt, chair of the NPCC has said that forces are doing “everything that we can do to ensure that the way we deal with violence against women and girls is as effective and as assertive as it can be.”

In order to keep pushing for change, it’s crucial to know the facts. So here are five important statistics about police misconduct you should know.

A third of police forces referred allegations of sexual assault following Wayne Couzens’ sentencing

Out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, 14 referred allegations of sexual assault and harassment in the weeks following the sentencing of Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard.

According to the Observer, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) received 27 referrals that involved officers and “serious sexual offences” in the week after Couzens’ was sentencing a whole-life term on Sep. 30, 2021.

Police England recorded over 650 sexual misconduct allegations in four years

As previously mentioned, at least 750 allegations of sexual misconduct were made against serving officers in England, Scotland, and Wales between 2016 and 2020. Police England recorded the most with 651, while Police Scotland saw 64 allegations. Over three police forces in Wales, there were 40 misconduct allegations.

In Northern Ireland, The Police Ombudman’s offices found that Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) had 134 allegations of sexual assault in the fives years up to 2020.

More than 100 women have accused police officers of domestic abuse

In the last two years, at least 129 women reported a partner who works in the police of domestic abuse against them or their children to the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), Channel 4 News revealed. More than a dozen women told C4 News there was a failure by detectives to investigate their cases, and some alleged that police “used their power and status to control and manipulate cases.”

A police watchdog warned in 2019 that officers weren’t being vetted enough for prior offences

The HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) warned that over 400 allegations had been made against officers for “abusing their position for a sexual purpose” and targeting suspects and victims in vulnerable positions. The HMIC also found that 13 percent of officers didn’t have up-to-date vetting.

For example, officer Ian Naude wasn’t vetted when he transferred to Cheshire Police from another force, “despite being a suspect in a grooming allegations proved by Staffordshire and West Mercia Police.” While an officer with Cheshire Police, he was jailed for 25 years for the rape of a 13-year-old he met during a domestic incident at her home.

30% percent of officers accused of sexual misconduct had previous offences

While not always of a “sexual nature”, C4 Dispatches found that 30% of UK police officers accussed of sexual misconduct had already been reported for other offences.