Forces fail over abuse of position to get sex

NONE OF Yorkshire’s police forces have fully implemented action plans designed to address concerns over officers and staff abusing their position for sex, a report out today concludes.

Inspectors delivered the warning in a follow-up assessment after laying bare the scale of the issue last year.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services was called in by then-home secretary Theresa May to investigate the extent of the problem.

The watchdog’s findings revealed hundreds of officers and other police personnel had been accused over two years of abusing their power to sexually exploit people, including vulnerable victims of crime.

As a result, forces were tasked with developing and beginning to implement plans to achieve the capability and capacity required to seek intelligence on potential cases of abuse of authority for sexual gain.

A review of their progress based on information provided to the inspectorate as of the end of May found that 11 force plans contained insufficient information, while another 15 forces had drawn up plans but had not yet started implementing them. Only two - Derbyshire and Merseyside - already had all of the required elements in place.

HM Inspector Mike Cunningham, who led the review, said: “When police officers and police staff abuse their position for a sexual purpose it has a devastating effect on the lives of victims, and corrodes trust and confidence in the police.”

In 2011 Northumbria Pc Stephen Mitchell was jailed after he was found guilty of two rapes, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in a public office.

The Inspectorate said the case should have been a “watershed moment” for the police service.