Only 83 of the 771 Met police officers and staff who have faced sexual misconduct allegations in the last 11 years have been sacked.
While 163 of the force’s officers were actually arrested for sexual offences, only 38 of them were convicted after appearing in court.
Meanwhile, 88% of the total accused were serving officers and 89% of the officers and staff who faced an internal investigation over complaints of sexual misconduct were male, according to a Freedom of Information request.
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These revelations come as serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens – who falsely arrested Sarah Everard before kidnapping, raping and murdering her – was handed a whole life sentence for his crimes today (September 30).
The Met is facing mounting criticism over how Couzens managed to slip through the net after several opportunities were missed to stop him, such as multiple accusations of flashing or public indecency.
There are growing calls for Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick to resign.
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Speaking outside the Old Bailey earlier, she said that Sarah Everard’s murderer had brought “shame” on the force, adding: “There are no words that can fully express the fury and sadness we feel about what happened to Sarah. I am so sorry.”
While she accepts that trust in the force is damaged, she did not comment when asked if she was going to quit.
The Met Police chief added: “I will do everything in my power to ensure we learn any lessons. I know that what happened to Sarah and indeed what has happened to other women raises important questions about women’s safety.”
Only 83 dismissed in a decade
The FOI data obtained by the i newspaper covers reports from January 1 2010 to May 31 this year, of Met employees accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape and using a position of power for sexual gain, among others.
Of the allegations that were substantiated after an initial investigation, formal action was taken in 156 cases and 83 resulted in dismissal without notice.
Another 46 people retired or resigned from the force after complaints were upheld, while 71 allegations were recorded as ‘discontinued’, meaning complainants decided to stop proceedings.
The Met is the UK’s biggest police force, with an estimated 43,000 current serving officers.
In 446 instances of sexual misconduct claims, allegations were found to be unsubstantiated or a result of ‘no case to answer’ was found from initial findings.
During that same timeframe, 726 allegations became conduct matters, with 383 referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission or Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Most complaints are dealt with by the force itself, but the most serious matters – likely where there are multiple allegations against an officer or the incident itself was very serious in nature – are referred on so it can be determined if an independent investigation or a degree of oversight is needed.
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Separate from internal conduct matters, of the 163 Met police officers that were arrested between 2010 and May this year, 78 were charged.
Of those that appeared in court, 38 were found to be guilty of sexual offences and 23 were found to be not guilty.
Two cases were recorded as ‘non-convictions’ and another two cases were recorded as ‘result unknown’ by the Met.
In terms of punishment, 18 of the officers that were prosecuted were sentenced to imprisonment.
Nine were given suspended sentences, eight were given conditional sentence orders, two received fines and one was given a community order.
In a response to the figures, a spokesperson for the force told the i : “We take any police-perpetrated abuse incidents extremely seriously and they are regularly scrutinised at a senior level.
“Any allegation, disclosure or conviction of sexual harassment or abuse perpetrated by an officer or member of staff is robustly investigated.
“Tackling sexual offences is a priority for the Met, and that includes when our own officers or staff are accused of offences. The Met will not hesitate to bring forward prosecutions and disciplinary procedures where there is evidence to do so.”
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