Officers dismissed under the Sexual Offences Act 2003

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.033490

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to know the number of officers that have been dismissed under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 between 2018 and 2023. I do not require names just the number of officers.

On the 2 November 2023 and the 16 November 2023 we discussed your request for information. In our first conversation of the 2 November 2023, I explained that police officers cannot be dismissed under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, rather they may be convicted of a criminal offence under this Act. A police officer may then be dismissed under relevant police regulations. We are agreed to amend your request for information to the following:

‘The number of officers convicted of an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 who were then dismissed by the MPS between 2018 and 2023’

On the 16 November 2023, we discussed your request for information. I explained that the MPS does not record, in a searchable field, police officers convicted of sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, rather it records police officers convicted of sexual offences. You confirmed that you were happy to receive the information as it is recorded by the MPS.

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Table one: Police officers convicted of a sexual offence at court that were subsequently dismissed by the MPS from the 1 January 2018 to the 16 November 2023, broken down by year.

Source System: Centurion.

Scope of Search: Date extracted using the court screen. Misconduct hearing date was set to 1 January 2018 to the 16 November 2023.

Caveats: Table one includes criminal proceedings that may have been concluded prior to the 1 January 2018. The misconduct hearing however, took place between the 1 January 2018 and the 16 November 2023.

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.

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 Act 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.