The link below, relating the number of UK police officers convicted of offences and still serving in their respective forces, has drawn some media attention in NI which is hardly surprising given the numbers involved and the ratio of PSNI officers (99) in the total UK figure (211). I’d like to request that the Board seeks a report from PSNI to clarify the following –
1) Confirmation of these figures
2) Timescales involved
3) Details of any PSNI penalties/warnings incurred
4) Whether those involved are still in, or available for, public facing duty
5) Duration of any times taken off public facing duty where applicable
I can advise that the figures quoted in the Sky News report of 10th July are correct, and that 99 serving PSNI officers have received a conviction during their time in the police service. There are a number of facts which should be taken into account when considering this data, particularly in the light of it seeming disproportionate to the rest of the UK police services:
- As only a third of UK police forces responded to the FOI request, the PSNI’s proportion of total convictions (99 out of 211) appears higher than it would have been had a response been received from all UK services.
- It is also the case that the size of the UK police services which provided information in relation to convictions is much smaller than the PSNI, with an average strength of 2125 officers, in comparison with approximately 6885 full time officers in the PSNI.
- These figures cover a time period of almost 20 years, accounting for convictions received by serving officers since 1st January 2001. This has meant approximately 5 police officers per year receiving a criminal conviction, and remaining an employee of the police service.
Misconduct outcomes in relation to 4 of these officers are still pending, however of those which have been concluded the following sanctions were applied:
Written Warning 32
Fined/Reduction in Pay 23
Other informal outcome 11
Advice & Guidance 9
Management advice/action/discussion 9
Reprimand/Caution 6
No misconduct sanction 3
Final Written Warning 2
The 20 year period during which these sanctions have been administered has witnessed various changes in relation to how police misconduct is dealt with. Most recently the Conduct Regulations and associated Department of Justice Guidance have been significantly reformed. The Chief Constable issued official guidance to misconduct panels on misconduct proceeding outcomes in 2018, in line with good practice recommended by the College of Policing. Specific organisational guidance as to how particular offences such as drink driving; abuse of authority for sexual or financial gain and data breaches should be dealt with are now in place. It is therefore likely that some of the officers in the above data set would not be retained as police officers if convicted of the same offences today.
It is not known what specific roles each of the above officers are currently carrying out, however due to their misconduct processes being concluded they are available to fulfil a full range of police duties, except in highly exceptional circumstances.
Of the 99 officers involved in this question only one officer was suspended from duty during the course of the investigation into their alleged misconduct. This suspension lasted a total of 364 days. Ten officers were repositioned from their regular duties during the course of investigation, for a total of 5981 days.
Obviously those figures only relate to officers who were not dismissed with or without notice. Whilst we only hold records about misconduct proceedings in which an officer was dismissed with or without notice from 2005, I thought it would be instructive to provide some figures by way of further context. In that period, two separate sets of Police Conduct Regulations were in place. The 2016 Conduct Regulations came into operation on 1 June 2016.
Officers Dismissed With or Without Notice 20025 – 2020:
2000 Police Conduct Regulations:
1) Dismissed - 28
2) Required to resign - 69
2016 Police Conduct Regulations
1) Dismissed with notice - 9
2) Dismissed without notice - 3
John Blair - Alliance