Police officer suspects (FOI ref: 1438A/25)
Request
1. For the period 1 Jan 2018 – 1 Jan 2024, how many police officers (serving or former) were:
a) Arrested as suspects in a criminal investigation
b) Voluntarily interviewed under caution (not arrested)
2. Of those arrested, how many were subsequently:
a) Charged or cautioned
b) No further actioned
c) Referred to the CPS but no charge authorised.
d) WITHDRAWN
3. Do you have any formal policies or guidance regarding the preferred use of arrest vs voluntary interview when the subject is a police officer?
4. WITHDRAWN
5. The number of investigations into officer suspects that exceeded:
a) 6 months
b) 12 months
c) 24 months
6. The number of these investigations that involved no charges or resulted in no further action.
7. The number of investigations per year by rank.
8. Does your force have any written safeguarding policy or protocol specifically addressing the welfare of police officers under criminal or misconduct investigation, including during:
a) Custody (if arrested)
b) Suspension or restriction from duty
c) Ongoing investigation periods
9. Is any mental health support, risk assessment, or welfare contact automatically offered to officers:
a) Under investigation?
b) Following arrest or voluntary interview?
Response
1. For the period 1 Jan 2018 – 1 Jan 2024, how many police officers (serving or former) were:
a) Arrested as suspects in a criminal investigation
b) Voluntarily interviewed under caution (not arrested)
a) Arrested
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
|
Police Officer |
4 |
10 |
22 |
18 |
|
Total |
4 |
10 |
22 |
18 |
b) Voluntary interview
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
|
Police Officer |
25 |
18 |
24 |
31 |
|
Total |
25 |
18 |
24 |
31 |
2. Of those arrested, how many were subsequently:
a) Charged or cautioned
b) No further actioned
c) Referred to the CPS but no charge authorised.
a) 23
b) 10
c) 0
3. Do you have any formal policies or guidance regarding the preferred use of arrest vs voluntary interview when the subject is a police officer?
No - Any decision to arrest is made in line with the requirements to utilise powers under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act).
5. The number of investigations into officer suspects that exceeded:
a) 6 months
b) 12 months
c) 24 months
|
Total |
|
|
0 - 6 Months |
42 |
|
6 - 12 Months |
4 |
|
12 - 24 Months |
13 |
|
Greater than 24 |
72 |
|
Total |
131 |
6. The number of these investigations that involved no charges or resulted in no further action.
Nine.
7. The number of investigations per year by rank.
|
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total |
|
|
Chief Inspector and above |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Constable |
22 |
20 |
35 |
33 |
110 |
|
Inspector |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Not Recorded |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
PCSO |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Sergeant |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
13 |
|
Total |
25 |
24 |
41 |
41 |
131 |
Please note - For the purpose of this response, the figures for Chief Inspector and all ranks above have been combined into a single category, described as “Chief Inspector and above”. This approach ensures that information can be provided in a meaningful way whilst protecting against the identification of individuals at senior ranks where the number of postholders is low. Disclosure of more detailed rank information would risk contravening the data protection principles and is therefore exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Details of this exemption can be found here:
Freedom of information | College of Policing - s40
8. Does your force have any written safeguarding policy or protocol specifically addressing the welfare of police officers under criminal or misconduct investigation, including during:
a) Custody (if arrested)
b) Suspension or restriction from duty
c) Ongoing investigation periods
a) Whilst in custody there is no specific policy on how we manage the welfare of police officers, all detainees' welfare is assessed on a case-by-case basis and under constant review. The suspects job would obviously be a factor as it would for any other high profile or sensitive role.
b) Yes, we have guidance attached
c) Yes
9. Is any mental health support, risk assessment, or welfare contact automatically offered to officers:
a) Under investigation?
b) Following arrest or voluntary interview?
a) Yes
b) As 8a above there is nothing specific for police officer, but risk management is an all-encompassing and ongoing assessment for anyone in custody. All detainees will be offered support tailored to their needs or potential needs which would include mental health support.
Any officer or member of staff for WMP who were voluntary interviewed or arrested and subsequently bailed (not remanded in custody) would be able to access mental health support externally through the EAP and other organisations, and would be allocated a WLO automatically, again covered by the guidance.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
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