Sixty-four Northumbria Police officers accused of abuse, data reveals

Northumbria Police said it was determined to "root out" officers who break the law

Sixty-four Northumbria Police officers were accused of sexual or domestic abuse over the last four years, it has been revealed.

The figures cover April 2019 to March 2023 and saw 54 officers investigated with 11 dismissed and three prosecuted.

The information was released following a request by councillors in North Tyneside.

Northumbria said it was "relentless" in rooting out employees who do not uphold the law.

The force disclosed the numbers amid a call for greater police transparency by Independent councillors and they were made public at a borough council meeting on Thursday.

The councillors had also asked the force why it had not handed over the data as part of a Liberal Democrat Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted to every force in the UK last year.

North Tyneside deputy mayor Carl Johnson, of Labour, said the force had told him it had not received the request.

'No place within policing'

An article by The Observer in December said the FoI data revealed 1,100 officers across England and Wales were under investigation for sexual or domestic abuse.

Northumbria Police was one of 28 out of 43 forces that had not responded to the request, the article added.

Following a request for comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Northumbria re-issued a statement from November by Det Supt Donna Rose, its head of professional standards.

She said it was "an honour and a privilege to be a police officer, and upon joining we take an oath to serve with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality".

She added: "Sadly, as we have seen both nationally and locally, there are times when individuals fail to meet these qualities.

"We absolutely recognise the impact such incidents can have on the communities we are here to protect.

"As we have previously made clear, this includes being relentless in our pursuit to root out those individuals who don't share our values - and who ultimately have no place within policing."