RESEARCHERS from Bournemouth University have taken part in the most thorough study ever undertaken into sexual misconduct within the national police force.
Following the emergence of details of how Sarah Everard was kidnapped and murdered by a police officer on September 30, Channel 4 Dispatches looked into scale of sexual misconduct by serving police officers, which aired on Monday October 11.
As part of the documentary, a research team at Bournemouth University looked into data from 514 proven cases of sexual misconduct to build a profile of officers likely to offend.
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The research, carried out by Dr Fay Sweeting, Dr Terri Cole and Professor Peter Hills at the university, produced some stark findings.
Dr Sweeting said: “Our research began with an initial request to look at a matrix which had been devised to identify cases of abuse of position for sexual gain, which we later developed into a pilot study to test to check if it was fit for purpose and empirically sound.
“Following an independent review of cases by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate Of Constabulary, the National Police Chiefs Council highlighted the need for a standardised risk assessment tool for the early identification of police officers engaged in abuse of position.
“Following from this, funding was secured from the police and Bournemouth University for a three-year PhD project to explore the area and create a risk assessment tool in order to prioritise officers who may be at greatest risk of perpetration.”
The documentary found that, over the past four years, nearly 2000 police officers, special constables and PCSOs in the UK have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct.
Having received responses to Freedom of Information request from 39 police forces across the country, figures revealed over 370 accusations of sexual assault, nearly 100 accusations of rape, and 18 accusations of child sex offences.
Although the researchers say that abuse of position and sexual misconduct is rare in the police force, the impact to the victims and also to public trust in the police can be severe.
“There appears to be several types of sexual misconduct - the most common being officers who have attempted or had sexual relationships with vulnerable victims/witnesses of crime,” said Dr Sweeting.
“Akin to research on sex offenders generally, we found evidence that some officers will purposefully target specific victims based on their vulnerabilities.
“The most frequently seen type of victim vulnerability identified by our research was domestic abuse followed by sexual assault and mental health issues.
“We also found some differences in the outcomes of sexual misconduct hearings across the country e.g., forces in the South of England dismissed a greater number of officers who had engaged in abuse of position for a sexual purpose than forces in the North.”
The majority of officers in the research worked in public facing roles and were generally of constable rank, which is reflected in similar research carried out in the US.
Researchers are hoping to obtain funding and support in order to develop this research further, for example in relation to consideration of vetting and initial recruitment procedures.
Dr Sweeting added: “The police are extremely supportive of this research and various forces initiatives based on some of our recommendations have already been implemented.
“We are aware of one force who are using our findings in the training of new recruits to help raise awareness of the issue. Another force are holding a multi-agency conference to ensure third parties such as social services are aware of vulnerable people who may become targets of abuse of position.
“When finalised, we hope that the risk assessment tool will help forces to quickly identify officers who are at risk in abusing their positions for a sexual purpose which will in turn protect vulnerable victims.”
To find out more about the research, visit https://policinginsight.com/features/analysis/police-abusing-their-position-for-sexual-gain-what-can-be-done/.
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