Officers and staff who have faced or are due to face disciplinary proceedings
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.023647
I note you seek access to the following information:
Q1. Could you tell me please the number of officers and staff who have faced or are due to face disciplinary proceedings for alleged conduct involving misogyny/sexism; racism or homophobia in the past year, ie the 12 months to 7 March?
Q2. I’d like the figures broken down by whether they involved officers or staff; and by category - so there will be three numbers for officers, and three numbers for staff.
Q3. If possible within the cost limits, could you provide details of the conduct involved please, and
Q4. which command or department the employee was working for at the time of the allegations?
Q5. could you also let me know the outcome of any disciplinary proceedings please?
Decision
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 40(2) - Personal Information
Reason for decision
Section 40 - Personal Information are absolute exemptions which means that the legislators have identified that harm would be caused by any release. In addition there is no requirement to consider the public interest test.
Q3 - If possible within the cost limits, could you provide details of the conduct involved please
A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world, not just to one individual. To disclose the requested data in Q3, could publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 1998.
The expansion in the summaries provide descriptions specific to the offences. It has been necessary to ensure an individual’s identity cannot be revealed by the information we disclose.
Such information would be internally sensitive and that there is a high likelihood of individuals being identifiable and the potential for the information to be combined with related information known to, or accessible by police officers and staff. This would be unwarranted as they would reasonably expect information relating to alleged misconduct to be held in confidence and not be disclosed for a non-law enforcement purpose.
Disclosure
Q1 - Could you tell me please the number of officers and staff who have faced or are due to face disciplinary proceedings for alleged conduct involving misogyny/sexism; racism or homophobia in the past year, ie the 12 months to 7 March?
Q2 - I’d like the figures broken down by whether they involved officers or staff; and by category - so there will be three numbers for officers, and three numbers for staff.
| Number of staff/officers receiving formal discipline March 2021 – March 2022 for discrimination (based on gender, race and sexual orientation). | ||||
| Staff Type | Gender | Race | SexualOrientation | Grand Total |
| Police Staff | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Police Officer | 7 | 45 | 7 | 59 |
| Grand Total | 7 | 46 | 7 | 60 |
Q4 - Which command or department the employee was working for at the time of the allegations?
| Unit | Gender | Race | Sexual Orientation | Grand Total |
| Central East Command Unit | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Central South Command Unit | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Central North Command Unit | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Central West Command Unit | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| East Area Command Unit | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| North Area Command Unit | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| North East Command Unit | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| North West Command Unit | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| South Area Command Unit | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South East Command Unit | 1 | 8 | 2 | 11 |
| South West Command Unit | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| West Area Command Unit | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Frontline Policing Headquarters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Frontline Policing (Non BCU) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Central Specialist Crime | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Met Detention | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Met Intelligence | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Parliamentary & Diplomatic Protection | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Specialist Firearms Command | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Specialist Operations | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Taskforce | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Left MPS | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Grand Total | 7 |
46 |
7 | 60 |
Q5 - Could you also let me know the outcome of any disciplinary proceedings please?
| Sanction | Gender | Race | Sexual Orientation | Grand Total |
| Dismissed | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Final Written Warning | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Not Proven | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Refer to AA (Appropriate Authority) for RPRP (Reflective Practice Review Process) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Would Have Been Dismissed | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| Written Warning | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Awaits Hearing | 2 | 32 | 2 | 36 |