Police dismissals up by almost 50% in a year

The number of police officers sacked and barred from forces in England and Wales hit a record high in the year to the end of March 2024.

According to figures from the College of Policing, 593 police officers were sacked over the period, an increase of almost 50% on the previous year.

The Police Barred List published by the college also shows the reason why officers have been sacked. Multiple reasons can apply in each case, so there are a total of 912 reasons recorded.

Although the majority (519) of those sacked were constables, all ranks were included and two chief officers were added to the figures this year.

The most common reason for sacking was dishonesty, in 125 cases. Sexual offences or misconduct featured in 74 cases, and discriminatory behaviour in 71.

Unlawful access to or disclosure of information was the reason in 66 cases and 18 involved officers who were part of a discriminatory WhatsApp group.

Eighteen officers were sacked for possessing indecent images of children and 33 for abusing their position for a sexual purpose.

Police forces have come under scrutiny since the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens in 2021. The Metropolitan Police and a number of others commissioned independent reviews of their workplace culture.

In several cases, these reviews uncovered examples of institutional racism, homophobia and misogyny, highlighting specific incidents of officers sharing inappropriate messages on WhatsApp groups or cases where previous offences had been overlooked in recruitment processes.

Tom Harding, assistant chief constable and director of operational standards at the college, said it was “hugely disappointing” to see officers’ conduct falling below standards.

“However, these figures show that we have effective, robust procedures in place to identify and deal with these officers swiftly, and to prevent them from holding future roles within the police.

“These figures show that there is nowhere to hide for people who fail to meet the high standards set across our police forces. Their behaviour tarnishes policing and erodes public trust.

“The service will continue working to ensure we attract the right people into policing, ensuring that those who fail to meet these high standards have no future in policing.”

There are more than 147,000 full-time equivalent officers across 43 police forces in England and Wales, and the number of dismissals represented 0.35% of the workforce, the college added.

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Thirty officers in the Special Constabulary were also dismissed.

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