Hundreds of convicted criminals working at police forces across UK

After Met shame over rogue officers, the Mail reveals:

ThE staggering scale of criminality in police forces can today be laid bare as figures show hundreds of serving officers and staff have convictions.

There are 284 workers across England and Wales with convictions for crimes including corruption, sex offences, violent assaults and possession of child pornography.

it comes after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner said last week ‘hundreds’ of rogue officers were getting away with misconduct and criminal behaviour in the force. Following a bombshell report by Baroness Louise Casey, sir Mark Rowley said he could not rule out the possibility of another Wayne Couzens – the Met officer who killed sarah Everard last year.

When the Mail submitted a Freedom of information request asking how many officers and staff have been convicted and what for, officials refused, saying it was ‘personal information’ that could ‘cause them harm’.

But the force’s decision to hide behind data protection rules – the only one in 43 forces to do so – was overturned last week after being exposed by the Mail.

a total of 104 Met officers and staff have been convicted since 2019, but the figure may be even higher as the force did not provide details of earlier offences.

among those convicted were 11 sex offenders and six were found guilty of misconduct in a public office. The force was unable to say

how many were still working for the organisation. a further 12 officers are awaiting trial for sexual offences; eight of these are still serving but are suspended or on restricted duties.

Records released under freedom

of information show that across 22 other forces, around 284 officers and staff have a criminal record.

But the figures are likely to be just a fraction of the true number as half of forces refused to provide details, saying they did not keep

central records on convicted staff. humberside Police was the only responding force to say it had no officers or staff with convictions.

after scotland Yard, the forces with the largest number of convictions were Thames Valley and north Wales both with 31, Derbyshire with 27, as well as both West Midlands and Gwent with 24.

in some cases, officers were still in post despite racking up multiple convictions.

some of those found guilty may be suspended officers awaiting misconduct hearings. Others may have a record prior to joining a force.

under recruitment rules, having a criminal record is not an automatic bar to joining the police and officers are vetted when they join.

a Met spokesman said: ‘ Whenever a serving member of staff is convicted of any offence, the case is thoroughly reviewed and they are also subjected to a misconduct process to determine their ongoing future with the police.’