Outcomes of Police Sexual Misconduct in the UK

Abstract

Sexual misconduct in police officers and staff is a serious form of corruption with negative consequences for victims and the reputation of the police. It can include a variety of behaviours ranging from inappropriate sexual comments to colleagues to sexual activity with vulnerable victims of crime. Analysis of publicly accessible data available from proven cases of sexual misconduct in 30 police forces in England and Wales has identified eight categories of sexual misconduct, together with the subsequent disciplinary outcomes. The most frequently recorded type of sexual misconduct involved officers of Constable rank conducting sexual relationships with victims of crime. Conversely, officers of higher ranks were more frequently found to engage in sexual bullying towards junior officers. Consequential dismissal rates varied greatly across different regions of the country. This research focuses on sexual misconduct within English and Welsh police forces and provides the current picture behaviours across regions, ranks, and gender.

Is the blue wall of silence a fallacy in cases of police sexual misconduct?

“…The survey comprised eight scenarios, written to include a range of sexual misconduct types demonstrated by UK police officers, as found by Sweeting et al (2021). To ensure the scenarios were realistic, each was based loosely on a real-life incident of sexual misconduct encountered by the first author during her service as a police officer.…”

“…The sexualised nature of his comments could also constitute sexual misconduct and sexual harassment (Maher, 2003; Zhu et al, 2019). This type of colleague-on-colleague sexual misconduct was found to account for 21.9% of a recent sample of police sexual misconduct cases (Sweeting et al, 2021). Another type of sexual misconduct, termed abuse of position for a sexual purpose, in which officers engage in sexual or improper emotional relationships with vulnerable members of the public, is currently a national priority for research (NPCC, 2017).…”

Exploring police sexual misconduct: an examination of a decade of incidents in a metropolitan agency

“…A couple of decades later, Page (2007) reported that rape myth acceptance existed among officers from 11 agencies in the Southeastern USA, but at much lower rates. Considering the cultural beliefs toward rape victims held by some in law enforcement, it comes as no surprise that officer sexual abuse incidents are often perpetrated against individuals of marginalized status who are especially vulnerable to police powers, including sex workers (Barker, 2020;Cottler et al, 2014), juveniles (Stinson et al, 2015;Walker and Irlbeck, 2003) and even fellow officers in lower ranks (Martin, 1980(Martin, , 1989(Martin, , 1990Sweeting et al, 2021Sweeting et al, , 2022.…”

“…While much of the PSM literature is becoming dated (Barker, 1978; Sapp, 1986), more current examinations continue to find the same associated characteristics, realities and trends (Barker, 2020; Silvestri, 2017; Stinson et al. , 2020; Sweeting et al. , 2021, 2022).…”

“…, 2014), juveniles (Stinson et al. , 2015; Walker and Irlbeck, 2003) and even fellow officers in lower ranks (Martin, 1980, 1989, 1990; Sweeting et al. , 2021, 2022).…”