Revealed, 41 police facing sex inquiries

DOZENS of police officers are being investigated over sexual misconduct allegations.

Officers of inspector rank or above are among those facing allegations including rape, stalking and sexual assault.

More than half of the alleged offences were against members of the public.

Now the Scottish Government is to consider toughening up laws on ‘abuse of power’ offences to bring them into line with England and Wales. In Scotland, Failure to Perform

‘Laws must be toughened up’

Duty laws, part of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, carry a maximum twoyear sentence – compared to a possible life sentence south of the Border – and make no reference to sexual relationships.

The Crown Office has a specialist division dealing with criminal allegations against police, but figures obtained through Freedom of Information show few officers have been successfully prosecuted.

Of 41 current investigations at Police Scotland, 25 were alleged against members of the public, seven against colleagues, five against family members and four had no victim.

Among the claims were rape, sexual assault, stalking, indecent images, public indecency, indecent communication and sexualised comments.

Thirty-seven of those under investigation are constables, two are sergeants and two are inspector or above. Twelve have been suspended, 14 are on restricted duties and 15 are working with no restrictions.

As well as internal investigations, 25 have seen an ‘inference of criminality’ referred to the Crown Office, two were part of an ongoing criminal investigation and seven were part of a conduct inquiry with the criminal investigation completed. Only seven were considered non-criminal.

As well as current probes, 59 sexual misconduct investigations have been completed since Police Scotland was formed in 2013. Nine resulted in court action, with six guilty verdicts. Twenty-one officers either quit or resigned before inquiries could be completed.

Oliver Mundell, Scottish Conservative community safety spokesman, said: ‘The Scottish Government should be looking to toughen up these laws. We don’t want to be left in a situa- tion where the law elsewhere in the UK is more robust than here.’

Sandy Brindley, national co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: ‘Rape by a police officer is a grave breach of trust. It is crucial that people have confidence that they can report this and will be believed and taken seriously.’

Chief Superintendent Alan Speirs, head of professional standards for Police Scotland, said sexual conduct claims were ‘robustly investigated’.

A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘All complaints are carefully and impartially investigated.’