Police in Herts Beds and Bucks say they thoroughly investigate every complaint made about their officers and staff
Forces have responded to figures on complaints about sexual misconduct
Police forces in Bucks, Beds and Herts say ever complaint of sexual misconduct against officers and staff are thoroughly investigated.
Yesterday figures showing thenumber of sexual misconduct complaintsmade against officers at Thames Valley Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary and Bedfordshire Police between 2016 and 2020 were shared.
In response to this a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said:
"Thames Valley Police is determined to work tirelessly to protect the communities of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
"However, we understand the effect of recent events on trust in policing.
"Public confidence in our officers and staff is of the utmost importance to us and we take all complaints extremely seriously.
"We have robust processes in place to identify and investigate when standards have fallen below our expectations.
"Between 2016-17 and 2020-21, 91 complaints were made against 99 officers and staff for sexual assault, abuse of position for sexual purpose and other sexual conduct.
"Of these, disciplinary action was taken in 19 of these cases, 59 were investigated with no disciplinary action resulting and investigations into eight of the cases are still ongoing.
"Every reported offence is investigated by our Professional Standards Department.
"Disciplinary action will be taken where required and where appropriate officers or staff members will be dismissed from the force.
"In these cases, officers and staff will be placed on a national barred list preventing them from working in policing ever again.
"We also make referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) when necessary.
"Communities in the Thames Valley should feel reassured that we hold all our officers and staff to the highest possible standards at all times."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Hertfordshire Constabulary said:
"Hertfordshire Constabulary requires the highest levels of integrity from our officers and staff and when someone fails to meet this standard, we take the appropriate action.
"If claims are made against our officers, a thorough investigation will be carried out by an independent force irrespective of who the offender is.
"The Professional Standards Department (PSD) prioritise sexual offence allegations against police officers.
"PSD, working in conjunction with the IOPC, investigates officers where officer conduct has or is likely to have breached the standards of professional behaviour.
"In the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, and the gross abuse of power exhibited by her killer, it is only right that the police service as a whole should be subjected to closer scrutiny.
"Our thoughts continue to be with Sarah’s family and friends who have had to endure a nightmare since she was taken from them.
"They have remained dignified and strong throughout, but we can only imagine the pain that they will continue to suffer.
"Sarah’s killer will never be free to pose a threat to any woman or girl ever again and his wicked actions have provoked feelings of great anger, sadness and shock among those working in policing.
"He betrayed every single police officer and staff member who have dedicated their working lives to preventing crime and keeping people safe.
"We recognise damage he will have caused to communities’ confidence in policing, and we are certain that the service nationally will learn from what has happened.
"He is however in no way reflective of policing generally and we as an organisation remain absolutely committed to protecting women and girls from violence and abuse, and keeping our streets safe for everyone."
We've also approached Bedfordshire Police for comment on the figures.