Officers with Reflective Practice from April 2021 to April 2023

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.030827

I note you seek access to the following information:

From 1 April 2021 to 1 April 2023 how many police officers have been given reflective practice after a concern in which they were the subject has been formally reported.

For each case please provide the following information:

Q1. The date the concern was formally reported

Q2. Whether generated via CM or PC

Q3. A summary of the behaviour (this may be in a redacted format so that individuals cannot be identified)

Q4. Whether they are still serving in the force.

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Please find enclosed a spreadsheet in which the located information has been provided.

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
Under Section 16 of the Act, there is a duty to advise and assist those that have made, or intend to make, a request for information. In accordance with this duty, I can confirm that the MPS publishes information about various types of crime on its website. I have provided a link to this information below.

MPS Website: Stats and Data

It may also assist you to note that the MPS proactively publishes all disclosures made in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on its Publication Scheme. I have provided a link to this section of the MPS website below.

MPS Publication Scheme

The MPS Publication Scheme can be searched using keywords and may accordingly hold other information that is of interest to you.

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.

Reflective Practice Review Process
In February 2020, the Police (Conduct) Regulations introduced reforms to the police complaints system that were designed to shift the focus of the police complaints process away from blame and punishment towards resolution and solutions through learning. The Reflective Practice Review Process (RPRP) was created as part of that change and is used to give officers a chance to learn from and reflect on what could have been done better when Practice Requiring Improvement (PRI) has been identified.

The decision to issue RPRP sits with an independent Appropriate Authority (AA) to ensure consistency and fairness in decision-making, with line managers taking a lead on the process. RPRP encourages officers to discuss what has taken place with their line managers whilst exploring opportunities for learning, development and improvement.

Our vision is to be the most trusted police service in the world, focusing on what matters most to Londoners and keeping London safe for everyone. Ensuring that officers learn from their mistakes and continue to learn and improve helps us to move towards our vision and our aim to deliver More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards.

Further information about the RPRP process can be found within the Home Office’s published statutory guidance on professional standards, performance and integrity in policing. I have provided a link to this guidance below.

Home Office Website: Statutory Guidance on Professional Standards, Performance and Integrity in Policing (Pages 154-170)

SUPPORTING CONTEXT
An officer should only receive Reflective Practice following a misconduct investigation if one of two circumstances arise:

1. Where the appropriate authority determines there is no case to answer or that no misconduct proceedings will be brought in regards to the allegation. It must assess whether the case amounts to practice requiring improvement - Regulation 23 (5)(a) of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.

2. Where they have been found to have a case to answer in regards to the allegation made and the person conducting or chairing misconduct proceedings finds the conduct amounts to neither gross misconduct nor misconduct, direct that the matter is referred to be dealt with under the reflective practice review process - Regulation 42 (1)(b) of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.

3. Of the 3110 officer allegations recorded (please see the enclosed spreadsheet), 1354 officer allegations resulted in a case to answer. The 1354 officer allegations related to the cases of 999 police officers. This represents 44% of all officer allegations in which reflective practice was issued.

4. The allegation types/categories under which misconduct allegations are recorded, do not necessarily reflect the reasons why reflective practice was issued. Reflective practice can be issued for any conduct that may have taken place as a part of a misconduct complaint. By way of a hypothetical example, an officer may have been the subject of an allegation in respect of their ‘power to arrest and detain’ but the reflective practice may have been issued in relation to the way in which they deliver messages to members of the public.

5. 3 'sexual conduct' officer allegations resulted in a case to answer. Of these 3 officer allegations, reflective practice was issued in 0 officer allegations for matters directly related to sexual conduct.