Lurdan
old wave
As former Superintendent Gordon Anglesea and former Sergeant Allen Richards are found guilty of child sex abuse in separate trials, the Times today published an investigation into sexual misconduct by police officers across the country.
Crossing the line: hundreds of police are facing sexual misconduct claims (paywalled - see below)
From a related story (headlined 'Hundreds of police sex pests uncovered'
)
Crossing the line: hundreds of police are facing sexual misconduct claims (paywalled - see below)
Fiona Hamilton
October 22 2016, 12:01am
When an intoxicated young woman complained of being sexually assaulted by a rickshaw driver in London in the early hours of the morning, PC Rudi Raichura was dispatched to the scene.
As Raichura, 39, helped the distressed victim into a patrol car, his colleague was surprised to see the Metropolitan police officer reach over to put on the seatbelt and “whisper something in her ear”. Realising that Raichura had slipped his private telephone number to the woman, the colleague raised concerns with an inspector.
The PC was given a verbal warning about his behaviour but four months later a female GP complained that Raichura had insisted on driving her home in his patrol car and then asked her out on a date.
An internal investigation revealed that Raichura had previously pursued a vulnerable victim of crime with whom he shared 88 texts. It also established that he had entered into a relationship with the initial sexual assault complainant. He was duly dismissed.
Charles Apthorp, a barrister representing the Met at the gross misconduct hearing, said: “The Met wants to make clear this sort of conduct is unacceptable. The public have the right to be assisted by police officers. They cannot be preyed upon by them.”
Raichura is one of a string of disgraced officers who have been brought to justice in courtrooms and misconduct hearings for abusing their position for sexual gain.
The existence of such exploitation was first made public in 2012 when a report by the policing watchdog revealed that some officers were using their positions of trust to abuse victims and witnesses they met on the job.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission called on forces to “determinedly root out” abusive behaviour after Stephen Mitchell, a Northumbria police officer, was jailed for life the previous year for a number of serious sex attacks on women he met through his job.
Since then there has been a steady stream of officers brought to the courts for rape, sexual assault and misconduct in public office — the latter mostly connected to relationships with vulnerable victims of crime.
However, the scale of the issue, the number of complaints and the detail of the allegations was largely hidden.
Now an extensive freedom of information request has uncovered how many police officers are being investigated for sexual misconduct, from sharing explicit images and sending harassing emails to indecent assault and rape.
The Times has established that there are at least 156 live sexual misconduct inquiries into police in England, Wales and Scotland. The figure includes complaints made by colleagues as well as reports by victims and witnesses, although the majority of cases are in the latter category. The true figure is likely to be higher since only a quarter of 44 forces would acknowledge live cases.
Up to 90 officers are under investigation at the Met, Britain’s largest force. There are 12 live investigations in Greater Manchester and ten in Scotland.
In West Mercia there are four live investigations prompted by complaints by members of the public. Two are over allegedly inappropriate relationships, one involves apparently unwanted sexual conduct from a sergeant, and an officer in Shrewsbury is accused of inappropriate sexual touching. Durham Constabulary confirmed that it was investigating two alleged sexual assaults during custody strip searches.
The FoI request has established that there have been more than 400 complaints by members of the public involving rape, sexual assault or sexual misconduct by police officers and police staff in the past five years.
That figure is nearly doubled when the Met’s 380 sexual misconduct investigations are taken into account, although the force would not break down complaints into external and internal categories. The figure is likely to be close to 1,000 complaints in total because ten forces rejected or did not respond to the FOI request, despite having five months to do so.
A large number of complaints were from suspects who claimed that they were assaulted in custody and the vast majority of those have been dismissed as spurious.
However, the responses also show that scores of victims, witnesses and other third parties have made complaints about officer behaviour not only in police stations but in patrol cars, at home addresses and in hotel rooms. They cross the spectrum from inappropriate sexual comments on social media and graphic emails to inappropriate relationships with vulnerable victims, harassing victims at their homes and having sex while on duty.
In many cases, including Raichura’s, the consequences were punitive. At least 40 officers have been dismissed from duty for sexual misconduct; some were charged with criminal offences. Again, the number is likely to be higher because many forces did not provide outcomes of investigations.
The FoI request also revealed a wide disparity in the way in which sexual complaints were handled, with officers accused of serious matters including harassment and inappropriate relationships given low-level sanctions.
At least 15 officers were allowed to resign before they faced misconduct hearings over offences including sexual touching, inappropriate contact with crime victims and sexual relationships with victims.
Others were given low-level sanctions and allowed to remain in their jobs. They include a male staff member at Devon and Cornwall Constabulary who was given a written warning for entering into a relationship with a vulnerable victim.
An officer in Wiltshire was subjected to management action for allegedly harassing a woman by sending “inappropriate and graphic messages” via social media. Management action, according to Home Office guidelines, means “pointing out how the behaviour fell short of the expectations set” and establishing an improvement plan.
When cases do reach court, victims have pointed out how such behaviour has devastated their lives. One victim, referring to an officer in south Wales who raped two women he met through work, said that she had been traumatised psychologically and that she now panicked if she saw a male police officer in the street.
Senior police have urged a sense of perspective on the issue, pointing out that, of the 125,000 or so officers in England, only a tiny proportion are accused of wrongdoing and fewer are found to be culpable.
One chief constable said: “The numbers are extremely small but it is about abuse of trust. If there is just one serious case of officer abuse it is extraordinarily damaging to the force.”
The College of Policing wants criminal sanctions to be available in more cases in which officers pursue relationships with vulnerable women, while the IPCC wants misconduct hearings to be as transparent as possible to highlight cases as a deterrent.
In the case of Raichura, the Met did just that. His request to resign before his misconduct hearing was refused, although he did not turn up to it.
Mr Apthorp said that it was a “serious departure from the standards of police behaviour” and that he had “abused the position of being a police officer”.
October 22 2016, 12:01am
When an intoxicated young woman complained of being sexually assaulted by a rickshaw driver in London in the early hours of the morning, PC Rudi Raichura was dispatched to the scene.
As Raichura, 39, helped the distressed victim into a patrol car, his colleague was surprised to see the Metropolitan police officer reach over to put on the seatbelt and “whisper something in her ear”. Realising that Raichura had slipped his private telephone number to the woman, the colleague raised concerns with an inspector.
The PC was given a verbal warning about his behaviour but four months later a female GP complained that Raichura had insisted on driving her home in his patrol car and then asked her out on a date.
An internal investigation revealed that Raichura had previously pursued a vulnerable victim of crime with whom he shared 88 texts. It also established that he had entered into a relationship with the initial sexual assault complainant. He was duly dismissed.
Charles Apthorp, a barrister representing the Met at the gross misconduct hearing, said: “The Met wants to make clear this sort of conduct is unacceptable. The public have the right to be assisted by police officers. They cannot be preyed upon by them.”
Raichura is one of a string of disgraced officers who have been brought to justice in courtrooms and misconduct hearings for abusing their position for sexual gain.
The existence of such exploitation was first made public in 2012 when a report by the policing watchdog revealed that some officers were using their positions of trust to abuse victims and witnesses they met on the job.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission called on forces to “determinedly root out” abusive behaviour after Stephen Mitchell, a Northumbria police officer, was jailed for life the previous year for a number of serious sex attacks on women he met through his job.
Since then there has been a steady stream of officers brought to the courts for rape, sexual assault and misconduct in public office — the latter mostly connected to relationships with vulnerable victims of crime.
However, the scale of the issue, the number of complaints and the detail of the allegations was largely hidden.
Now an extensive freedom of information request has uncovered how many police officers are being investigated for sexual misconduct, from sharing explicit images and sending harassing emails to indecent assault and rape.
The Times has established that there are at least 156 live sexual misconduct inquiries into police in England, Wales and Scotland. The figure includes complaints made by colleagues as well as reports by victims and witnesses, although the majority of cases are in the latter category. The true figure is likely to be higher since only a quarter of 44 forces would acknowledge live cases.
Up to 90 officers are under investigation at the Met, Britain’s largest force. There are 12 live investigations in Greater Manchester and ten in Scotland.
In West Mercia there are four live investigations prompted by complaints by members of the public. Two are over allegedly inappropriate relationships, one involves apparently unwanted sexual conduct from a sergeant, and an officer in Shrewsbury is accused of inappropriate sexual touching. Durham Constabulary confirmed that it was investigating two alleged sexual assaults during custody strip searches.
The FoI request has established that there have been more than 400 complaints by members of the public involving rape, sexual assault or sexual misconduct by police officers and police staff in the past five years.
That figure is nearly doubled when the Met’s 380 sexual misconduct investigations are taken into account, although the force would not break down complaints into external and internal categories. The figure is likely to be close to 1,000 complaints in total because ten forces rejected or did not respond to the FOI request, despite having five months to do so.
A large number of complaints were from suspects who claimed that they were assaulted in custody and the vast majority of those have been dismissed as spurious.
However, the responses also show that scores of victims, witnesses and other third parties have made complaints about officer behaviour not only in police stations but in patrol cars, at home addresses and in hotel rooms. They cross the spectrum from inappropriate sexual comments on social media and graphic emails to inappropriate relationships with vulnerable victims, harassing victims at their homes and having sex while on duty.
In many cases, including Raichura’s, the consequences were punitive. At least 40 officers have been dismissed from duty for sexual misconduct; some were charged with criminal offences. Again, the number is likely to be higher because many forces did not provide outcomes of investigations.
The FoI request also revealed a wide disparity in the way in which sexual complaints were handled, with officers accused of serious matters including harassment and inappropriate relationships given low-level sanctions.
At least 15 officers were allowed to resign before they faced misconduct hearings over offences including sexual touching, inappropriate contact with crime victims and sexual relationships with victims.
Others were given low-level sanctions and allowed to remain in their jobs. They include a male staff member at Devon and Cornwall Constabulary who was given a written warning for entering into a relationship with a vulnerable victim.
An officer in Wiltshire was subjected to management action for allegedly harassing a woman by sending “inappropriate and graphic messages” via social media. Management action, according to Home Office guidelines, means “pointing out how the behaviour fell short of the expectations set” and establishing an improvement plan.
When cases do reach court, victims have pointed out how such behaviour has devastated their lives. One victim, referring to an officer in south Wales who raped two women he met through work, said that she had been traumatised psychologically and that she now panicked if she saw a male police officer in the street.
Senior police have urged a sense of perspective on the issue, pointing out that, of the 125,000 or so officers in England, only a tiny proportion are accused of wrongdoing and fewer are found to be culpable.
One chief constable said: “The numbers are extremely small but it is about abuse of trust. If there is just one serious case of officer abuse it is extraordinarily damaging to the force.”
The College of Policing wants criminal sanctions to be available in more cases in which officers pursue relationships with vulnerable women, while the IPCC wants misconduct hearings to be as transparent as possible to highlight cases as a deterrent.
In the case of Raichura, the Met did just that. His request to resign before his misconduct hearing was refused, although he did not turn up to it.
Mr Apthorp said that it was a “serious departure from the standards of police behaviour” and that he had “abused the position of being a police officer”.
From a related story (headlined 'Hundreds of police sex pests uncovered'
)(...)
(...)
"Most of them" have had "some sort" of investigation eh - that's nice.
ta
