Hampshire police reveals officer sexual abuse allegation numbers

Police and crime commissioner Donna Jones says there is "still much work to do"

Twenty-three officers are currently suspended on full pay due to allegations of sexual abuse, touching, "or worse", a force has revealed.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones revealed the figure at a meeting of the county's crime and police panel.

Police behaviour and misconduct has been under scrutiny since the murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer.

The Home Office has asked police forces to check their staff.

Ms Jones said: "In 2022, the number of sexual allegations increased in the whole country, which is not acceptable."

Home Office figures show 1,938 misconduct allegations were made against Hampshire and Isle of Wight officers and handled under the formal complaints process in the year to April 2022, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Of these, 1,867 (96%) resulted in no action being required against the police officers involved, said the LDRS.

Just five allegations were referred to official misconduct proceedings and 34 were referred to the reflective practice review process, which is used when an officer's behaviour falls short of expectations but does not amount to misconduct.

The figures cover the total number of allegations rather than the number of complaints - one complaint could contain several allegations of misconduct. They do not cover any complaints handled outside the formal process.

There are nearly 3,500 police officers on the force.

Ms Jones said: "Victims of police abuse are treated in a very special way, they are offered additional protection to not feel intimidated.

"We have an anticorruption team [to whom] colleagues can report officers anonymously. Some of them are not feeling confident reporting through the intranet but I always offer different ways to report confidentially."

But she added: "There is still much work to do."