FOI 80536

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 80536

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 11^th May 2021. Please find below the response to your request:

Under freedom of information legislation, I am seeking the following information:

- The total number of sexual harassment complaints received by your force for the calendar years 2018, 2019 and 2020, relating to police officers, from staff members and members of the public

- The number of individual police officers to which the above relates

- The total number of officers who received management action as a result

- The total number of officers who received disciplinary action for misconduct as a result

- The total number of officers who retired or resigned after a complaint was lodged

- The total number of officers who were dismissed as a result

Reply:-

I can confirm that West Mercia holds the information you have requested. A search was carried out to cover the parameters of reports for sexual harassment and sexual abuse of position; Sexual misconduct.

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Q3 – 6

Please note to add context to the above:

The figures do not show officers who have resigned and have then been dismissed as a ‘former officer’. It also does not show the investigations which are ‘still live’.

The IOPC in the main will take all reports of sexual misconduct against members of the public as Independent investigations. These inevitably will be treated as criminal investigation (misconduct in a public office), and as such the misconduct proceedings will be held until the criminal cases have been concluded. Covid has impacted on the investigation timeliness; CPS accessibility, court listings etc. As such a number of cases are waiting for trial in court.

Accelerated misconduct hearings seek to remove an officer from the force as soon as possible if the evidence threshold is met, and deemed incontrovertible. This can be undertaken even when there is a criminal case on going, so long as the misconduct procedure would not prejudice the criminal case.

On occasions the matter being heard at the accelerated hearings will be different to the criminal case. For example an officer could be investigated criminally for a sexual matter, but could be taken through a misconduct process for misuse of police systems, which would not flag as sexual under the search parameters in place for this FOI.

The investigatory body (either the force or the IOPC) have no control or influence over the outcome of a gross misconduct hearing. The legally qualified chair who heads the panel will decide on the Officers sanction, which could be dismissal, but can also be a number of other sanctions where the officer will retain their job (e.g. final written warning).