England: Nearly 600 British police officers fired for misconduct over one year

Nearly 600 police officers have been sacked for misconduct or misconduct in England and Wales over a year, according to figures released on Tuesday, as police struggle to rebuild public trust after a series of scandals.

Layoffs jumped by 50% over the past year between April 2023 and March 2024, bringing the number of police officers dismissed to 593, underlined the College of Policing, a training organization for law enforcement in England and the country. of Wales.

This includes 74 cases of sexual assault or reprehensible behavior of a sexual nature, 18 cases of possession of child pornography images and 71 cases of discriminatory behavior, reasons which can be combined and led to the dismissal of the agents concerned.

“Dishonesty”, main cause

“Dishonesty” in the functions performed is the main cause of dismissals (125 cases). In 66 cases, the dismissal was motivated by the revelation of confidential information or unauthorized access to such data.

The reputation of the English police was deeply damaged by the kidnapping, rape and murder in March 2021 of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old Londoner, by Wayne Couzens, a member of the force since sentenced to prison for life.

Nearly two years later, London police officer David Carrick was also sentenced to life in prison for dozens of rapes and other sexual assaults on twelve women over a period of approximately twenty years.

147,000 police officers in total

Beyond these high-profile cases, several reports have denounced racist, homophobic and misogynistic behavior within the police and many voices are calling for reforms.

“It is extremely disappointing to see that the conduct of a number of police officers is not at all up to the standards that we have set and that the public has the right to demand,” regretted Tom Harding, a head of the College of Policing.

“Their behavior tarnishes the functioning of the police and erodes public confidence,” he added, while stressing that their dismissal attested to the existence of “robust procedures” internally. England and Wales have a total of 147,000 police officers on their territory.

In January 2023, the Met Police announced that 1,633 cases of alleged sexual assault or domestic violence involving more than 1,000 members of the police over the past ten years would be re-examined.

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