Nine sexual misconduct complaints made against Norfolk officers
New figures show hundreds of complaints have been made against officers in the UK.
Last updated 12th Oct 2021
New figures show nine sexual misconduct complaints have been made against officers at Norfolk Police between 2016 and 2020.
The numbers have been put together by RADAR under the Freedom of Information Act.
They show that over four years those complaints were made against seven males and two unknown.
14 claims were made against 18 officers at Suffolk Police over the same time period, while Cambridgeshire's force received 10 claims relating to 15 officers.
The majority of those were against males.
It follows the announcement of an inquiry into failures that allowed Sarah Everard's killer to remain a police officer despite allegations against him.
A Norfolk Constabulary spokeswoman said: “We take any allegations of misconduct very seriously, but particularly those of a sexual nature given the trusted position police officers work in.
“We have robust processes in place to deal with complaints and allegations made against officers and those in police roles. These matters will be thoroughly investigated and where there is a case to answer, misconduct procedures will take place.
“Any allegation concerning abuse of position for a sexual purpose are referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) for investigation which is standard procedure.
“In the event of misconduct procedures taking place, misconduct hearings are carried out by an independent panel headed by a legally qualified chair. The chair and panel’s decision is completely independent of the police and based on the evidence given.
“It should be noted that each of the allegations listed within our original response is individual and would require further context to fully explain the outcome. For example, such cases would include allegations which are proved to be false, but are required to be recorded on the initial information provided.”
The Chief Constable of Norfolk Police has also been outlining his plans to tackle violence against women and girls.
Chief Constable Paul Sandford says part of their response includes encouraging people to use a new website called StreetSafe where unsafe areas of the county can be anonymously reported.
"This can be accessed via Police.UK, if you go on that website and highlight an area where you don't feel safe, we will look at that data and we will patrol those areas. To prove that we are operating in the areas that we need to most".
But he went on to say that this website is only part of his strategy:
"The Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk has reported on over £400,000 worth of extra funding, that he has secured to work with local authorities to make areas of the county feel safer".
"That's going to see extra investment in CCTV, working with Kings Lynn District Council and its going to see more street lighting in Great Yarmouth and this will mean we work closely with the local authorities there, as well."
"In the unlikely event that somebody is flagged down by a plain clothed officer, it is the job of the officer to prove to the person they have stopped, why they have stopped them and that there is good reason to do so".
"It's not the job of the member of the public to do this. It's the responsibility of the officer, there a number of way they can do this and I've re-enforced them to my officers".
He concluded by admitting that while the force has rigorous on-going checks in place, these can't solve all the problems:
"In the last two and a half year, 130 people have been prevented from joining our organisation, because vetting has shown us that they not suitable. we also regularly re-check officers and members of staff at various points of their career. But vetting can only take you so far, it can't tell you what an officer is going to do in the future".