23 Hampshire police officers suspended over sex allegations

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TWENTY-THREE Hampshire and Isle of Wight police officers are suspended on full pay over allegations of sexual abuse, groping or worse.

The revelation came at a meeting of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Crime and Police Committee and was made by County Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones.

Police behavior and misconduct has come under the spotlight since the murder of police officer Sarah Everard Wayne Couzens last year and intensified with the recent conviction of fellow Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick for nine counts of rape. This week news broke that 98 police officers in Greater Manchester have been charged with sex offences.

The Ministry of the Interior has asked the police forces to control their personnel.

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Ms Jones said: ‘In 2022 there has been an increase in the number of sex allegations across the country which is not acceptable.

Home Office figures show that 1,938 allegations of misconduct were made against Hampshire Police officers and dealt with through the formal complaints process in the year to April 2022.

Of these, 1,867 (96%) did not result in any action being taken against the police officers involved.

Only five allegations were referred to a formal misconduct process and 34 were referred to the reflective practice review process when an officer’s behavior falls short of expectations but does not constitute misconduct.

The figures cover the total number of allegations rather than the number of complaints. A complaint may contain several allegations of misconduct. They do not cover complaints handled outside of the formal process, where it was deemed that a detailed investigation was not necessary.

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“Victims of police abuse are treated in a very special way,” Ms Jones added. “They are given extra protection so they don’t feel intimidated.

“We have an anti-corruption team where colleges can report officers anonymously. Some of them don’t feel confident reporting through the intranet, but I always offer different ways to report confidentially.

“There is still a lot of work to do.”

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