High sexual conduct cases for force
Avon and Somerset is among the police forces with the highest number of complaints regarding sexual conduct, an independent report has found.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published its annual report on complaints in 2020/21 on November 16.
Avon and Somerset logged 1,984 complaint cases and has 6,031 employees, amounting to 329 complaint cases per 1,000 employees.
Of the number of allegations logged, nine were related to sexual conduct, giving Avon and Somerset Police the joint seventh highest number of sexual conduct complaints across all 44 police forces.
The highest was the Metropolitan Police Force, which logged 31 sexual conduct complaints.
The IOPC report noted that of those cases handled formally, only 13 per cent were subject to formal investigations and that these investigations are “more likely” to feature allegations of abuse of position, discreditable conduct, and sexual conduct allegations.
Avon and Somerset Police also had high complainant numbers under the abuse of position or corruption category, for which the force received 91 allegations, compared with the highest of 102 for the West Yorkshire force.
A spokesperson for Avon and
Somerset Police said: “We are committed to providing the public with the highest standards of service.
“When the conduct of an officer or member of police staff appears to fall below these high standards, we encourage people to report their concerns to us so our Professional Standards Department (PSD) can investigate and if necessary, take action.
“Should an officer or member of police staff be accused of a serious wrongdoing or criminal behaviour, including sexual assault, then the matter will be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which may decide to direct an investigation or independently investigate.
“All complaints are taken seriously and when misconduct is identified it is dealt with robustly as we fully recognise the damage it does to the public’s trust and confidence in us.
“In cases where evidence of gross misconduct is found, a hearing may take place chaired by a Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) who is independent of policing. The outcome of which is then always published on our website in the interests of transparency.”
IOPC director general Michael Lockwood said: “An effective complaints system and independent oversight of it is a vital part of securing public confidence in policing.
“Now more than ever the public need assurance that policing is listening to their concerns and taking action to put things right.
“They want to know that there are checks and balances to police powers and that there is accountability and learning when things go wrong. These statistics provide a view of police complaints in England and Wales - identifying what complaints are being made and how police forces are responding.”
These are the first complaints statistics to be published since moving to a different system of recording complaints, under new regulations within the Policing and Crime Act which came into force in February 2020.
These figures have subsequently been described as ‘experimental statistics’ as defined by the Office for National Statistics, noting that they are a ‘series of statistics that are in the testing phase and not yet fully developed.’
The IOPC said: “For this reason, any conclusions about trends need to be treated with caution and they cannot be meaningfully compared to previous years.”
Mr Lockwood continued: “Given the significant changes to how complaints are recorded and handled by police forces in the last year, more time is needed to ensure the consistency and completeness of this data.
“Notwithstanding that, I am encouraged that widening the definition of a complaint to any expression of dissatisfaction and removing many of the barriers to recording has seen the expected significant increase in the volume of complaints being received.
“What is equally positive is that many more complaints are now being resolved quickly and informally, with fewer resulting in lengthy investigations.
“These are being replaced with more tailored responses such as explanations and apologies which address the concerns raised.
“We know that Black and Minority Ethnic and young people have less confidence in the police therefore it is really important that greater efforts are made to improve the demographic data that is collected. It is important to understand who is complaining and how they are responded to.
“It is notable that very few complaints resulted in an investigation into an individual’s conduct and fewer still (18), a misconduct outcome for an individual.
“As more outcomes data becomes available, we will be seeking assurance that there is an appropriate response when concerns about conduct are raised.
“I am concerned that so few cases have resulted in learning for individuals, or the police force concerned - and particularly that very few cases (815) resulted in use of reflective practice as an outcome.
“The introduction of reflective practice was central to the reform of the complaints system. It is a process intended to provide an open environment to encourage all those involved to reflect, learn and, where necessary, put things right to prevent issues reoccurring.
“These reforms are a real opportunity to improve the complaints and discipline system for complainants and officers. But this can only happen if the service and individuals within it are genuinely open to reflection, learning and improvement.
“As part of our role in overseeing the complaints system, we will be examining the use of reflective practice across forces to see how it has been applied.
“I would ask all chief constables and police and crime commissioners to consider how they can use the data in this report to further improve their handling of complaints and demonstrate to the public that there is an appropriate response when issues are raised.”
When the conduct of an officer or member of police staff appears to fall below the highest standards, we encourage people to report their concerns to us Avon and Somerset Police