Police officers reported for or accused of misconduct from January 2020 to March 2023
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029829
I note you seek access to the following information:
The total number of police officers given/referred to 'reflective practice' after being reported for or accused of misconduct (including, for example, any level of harassment, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual assault or rape).
Please provide subtotals for the calendar years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 (to date).
Please provide a breakdown by type of allegation (i.e. sexual harassment, sexual assault or assault).
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.
SECTION 16 - ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
The MPS has published relevant information in response to a number of requests made about alleged MPS employee sexual misconduct under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). I have provided links to this information below.
Officers suspended/dismissed due to allegations of sexual misconduct - 01.FOI.21.018607
Serving officers accused of alleged sexual harassment/assault from 2010 to 2021 - 01.FOI.22.022899
Serving police officers accused of sexual offences and stalking from January 2019 to February 2022 - 01.FOI.22.023436
Additionally the MPS is to publish a dataset that will set out in detail, further information about the alleged sexual misconduct of police employees. This information will be published on the MPS Publication Scheme shortly. I have provided a link to the MPS Publication Scheme below.
MPS Website - Publication Scheme
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 3922 officer allegations recorded (please see the enclosed spreadsheet), 1710 officer allegations resulted in a case to answer. The 1710 officer allegations related to the cases of 1267 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. 4 'sexual conduct' officer allegations resulted in a case to answer. Of these 4 officer allegations, reflective practice was issued in 1 officer allegation for matters directly related to sexual conduct. Specifically, the officer made inappropriate sexual comments whilst off-duty and under the influence of alcohol.