Complaints of sexual offences committed by police officers

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031076

I note you seek access to the following information:

On 16 January 2023 the BBC reported online that, 'The Met said a total of 1,633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving 1,071 officers and other staff were being reviewed from the last 10 years to make sure the appropriate decisions were made.'

Does this review include complaints of sexual offences committed by police officers which were made in a civil complaint or claim against the Met Police to make sure the appropriate decisions were made in these instances as well?

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Does this review include complaints of sexual offences committed by police officers which were made in a civil complaint or claim against the Met Police to make sure the appropriate decisions were made in these instances as well?

Operation Onyx involves a thorough review of all completed sexual offence or domestic abuse cases from the last 10 years involving serving officers or staff. This involves public complaints and conduct matters. Although it does not separately involve civil complaints or civil actions, there are some cases where the civil action or complaint emanates from a public complaint or misconduct matter, and as such there will some of these cases that are in scope for review with Operation Onyx.

Differences between a Conduct Matter & Public Complaint

Conduct Matter
A Conduct Matter arises in any circumstances where there has not been a public complaint but the circumstances indicate that an officer or member of police staff may have either committed a criminal offence or behaved in a way that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

Public Complaint
Public Complaints refer to allegations received externally from individuals outside of the organisation.

Operation Onyx
For more information on Operation Onyx and the work the MPS is doing to restore trust and confidence please see the link below:

Met provides first update on strongest doubling down on standards for 50 years

Maintaining Public Trust in the MPS
Securing and maintaining the trust of the community is integral to the principle of policing by consent and to continue to do so, the MPS recognises that its staff must act with professionalism and integrity. The MPS treats each occasion when an allegation is made about the conduct of its staff extremely seriously and will fully investigate each incident to determine whether the conduct of that member of staff has breached the standards of professional behaviour. Where the conduct of staff is proven to have fallen below the standards of behaviour expected, the MPS will take robust action to ensure that its staff are held to account and that lessons are learnt from each case. Any instance where the conduct of our staff is alleged to have fallen below the standards of behaviour expected is treated extremely seriously by the MPS.