Complaints against officers

[Fedster + 1,307]

Record should not taint reputation of incredible police service, says Fed.

 

Date - 17th October 2018
By - Sophie Garrod - Police Oracle

1 Comment

 

More than 100 police officers, special constables and staff have been placed on the new Police Barred List following its introduction, figures from the College of Policing show.

The barred list was introduced in December following the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which made it a requirement for all forces in England and Wales to inform the College of Policing of dismissals for conduct or performance matters.

Seventy officers from PC to superintendent rank, three members of the special constabulary, and 31 police staff were dismissed and are now prevented from re-entering the police service or joining other policing bodies.

The figures released today cover the period up to March 31 2018. The College will now release figures on an annual basis to cover the financial year.

The record also includes dismissals of officers who resigned or retired prior to a misconduct hearing being held.

New legislation now enables forces to continue with these investigations and, where appropriate, still hold a hearing to establish whether or not the officer would have been dismissed had they remained in the police service.

Additionally, the names of police officers and members of the special constabulary dismissed for gross misconduct and placed on the barred list are published on a publicly searchable database.

Detective Superintendent Jackie Alexander, College of Policing lead for professional standards, said: “The majority of the people working in policing act with honesty and integrity as shown by the number of dismissals in relation to the overall workforce of over 200,000 people.

“When people working in policing do fall below the required standard, it is important not only that they are dismissed, but also that they are prevented from returning to any policing role or body, for as long as they remain unsuitable. This safeguard is now in place with the new barred list, which forces and policing bodies are required to check to ensure an applicant has not been listed before any appointment is made. 

“Any serious wrongdoing by those working in policing will be troubling to the public. The figures demonstrate that forces have measures in place to uncover wrong-doing, investigate effectively when it occurs, and hold officers and staff to account for their behaviour.”

Phill Matthews, conduct and performance lead for the Police Federation of England and Wales, told Police Oracle: "These figures represent an incredibly small percentage of police officers and the vast majority of officers come into the police service to protect the public and they act with integrity and respect.

"A large percentage of those dismissed are often brought about by other officers bringing the information to light rather than as a result of any public complaints. The police service is very good at uncovering those that don’t deserve to be in the job.

“Whilst I absolutely condemn dishonest or inappropriate behaviour, a small minority should not taint the reputation of our incredible police service, the overwhelming majority of who work tirelessly with dedication and professionalism under extremely demanding circumstances to keep us safe.”

View On Police Oracle

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

I had a look at the list the other day and there were about 11 or 12 MET Specials in the list in 2017/18 and many from other forces.

 

I am not sure what the source of the article that ‘three members of the special constabulary’ were on the list?

 

Perhaps the article only refers to those whom were both sacked and put on the list before it became a statutory list? And that it doesn’t refer to those who resigned and were then put on the list or were put on the list before it became statutory?

 

**edit

 

It was previously called the Disapproved Register and it is now he statutory Barred List.

 

Interestingly, I just found out that you can apply after 5 years to be removed from the list. Not too sure if you would pass an interview mind you.

[Sceptre + 2,701]

16 minutes ago, ParochialYokal said:

I had a look at the list the other day and there were about 11 or 12 MET Specials in the list in 2017/18 and many from other forces.

I am not sure what the source of the article that ‘three members of the special constabulary’ were on the list?

From the College of Policing site here: "The information currently contained within the Disapproved Register will not be transferred to the barred list and will be deleted by the College."

Not sure why they didn't feel they could transfer it across, perhaps the legislation didn't permit it.

 

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

From the College of Policing site here: "The information currently contained within the Disapproved Register will not be transferred to the barred list and will be deleted by the College."
Not sure why they didn't feel they could transfer it across, perhaps the legislation didn't permit it.
 

There’s interesting. So everyone on the former Disapproved Register ‘gets away with it’, as it were?

I wonder whether it has something to do with data protection laws as well? The new list can be viewed by the public and there is a statutory basis for making that available. However, the old list was merely there to prevent people from rejoining the service. There would been no lawful basis for letting people view whose name was on that list.

[Zulu 22 + 4,571]

It would seem that the COP have put their foot in it, again and they preach policy.