Dozens of sexual misconduct allegations made against Wiltshire and Hampshire police officers

750 accusations of sexual assault were made against serving officers across Britain between 2016 and 2020, according to figures from 33 police forces obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Complaints could relate to historic allegations and most were against male officers, the data shows.

Wiltshire Police

Six sexual assault complaints were made against Wiltshire Police officers.**

Five came from the members of the public and one from a colleague.

Of the complaints, four saw no further action and in two the victim did not wish to purse the case.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said:

“Here at Wiltshire Police we expect the very highest levels of professionalism, honesty and ethics from everyone within our workforce and we have robust systems in place to ensure these standards are upheld.

“Our Professional Standards Department is a committed team who work hard to educate our officers and staff, as well as investigating incidents or people of concern.

“We deal with all public complaints and conduct matters robustly and if a police officer or staff member is deemed to have breached standards then the appropriate action is taken.

“With police officer misconduct, this means facing disciplinary action and being placed before a panel. The media are invited to attend these hearings and the outcomes are placed on our police website.

“We would urge anyone who has concerns about the conduct of a police officer or member of staff, to report this so it can be fully investigated.

“We want our communities to have confidence that their concerns or complaints will be listened to and acted on.”

Hampshire Constabulary

Meanwhile 38 sexual assault claims were made against male Hampshire Constabulary officers between 2016 and 2020.

Of the claims where there was a case to answer, two resulted in resignation or dismissal, one with a written warning. In a fourth, the officer died.

The allegations were not founded in 28 cases. A total of 12 had a result of "no case to answer", 12 were not upheld and in four it was deemed that “acceptable service” had been provided by the officer.

Meanwhile, two were withdrawn, one was discontinued and one was subject of a disapplication, which means it may no longer be dealt with under complaints legislation.

A further two were under investigation at the time of the FOI response on July 20

The data for both Wiltshire Police and Hampshire Constabulary does not specify if the officers were on or off duty at the time the alleged incidents occurred.

The sex of the person making the accusation was also unknown in each case.

Restoring confidence in Police

The figures come as Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there is “a massive job” to be done in restoring women’s confidence in police after the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has launched an independent inquiry into the "systematic failures" by police that Wayne Couzens to be employed as a police officer.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition, which includes groups like Rape Crisis, Refuge and Women's Aid, said few officers face "any meaningful consequences" for violence against women and girls nationally.

Deputy director Denzi Uğur said:

"We need to see a radical overhaul of how the police respond to violence against women – especially within their own ranks.

"This means greater accountability and urgent, coordinated and strategic action to address violence against women.

"Ultimately, we need to address these widespread institutional failings before we can even begin to address women’s confidence in the police."

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which oversees the police complaints system, said it was down to forces to "stamp out" any abuse of police powers.

A spokesperson said:

"The abuse of police powers for purposes of sexual exploitation, or violence, has a devastating impact on victims, and a serious impact on the public's confidence in individual officers and the service in general.

"It is critical there are effective systems in place to prevent, monitor and deal swiftly with any individual who exploits that trust.

"In the context of the police service, this behaviour is a form of corruption and should be dealt with as such.

"Each case reported represents a serious betrayal of the trust and confidence that individuals should have in the police. It is behaviour which can never be justified or condoned."