Going to just paste his response for now as my brain if pre xmas frazzled and I can't concentrate at the moment.
Hopefully someone will read it in the mean time and see some patterns.
Let me know if you do :)
I write in response to your recent correspondence with the Greater London Authority (GLA) regarding Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers prosecuted for criminal offences. In your initial email to the GLA you raised the following enquiry with them:
"When reading the news recently, I noted that there has never been a prosecution of a police officer for manslaughter while they are on duty. This statistic amazed me. Do you know how many officers have been prosecuted for any non-minor offence recently and how this compares to older statistics? Can it really be that there are none? This possibility causes me concern and I would appreciate it if you could investigate on my behalf."
In our telephone conversation of 19 November 2009, I explained that your email had been provided to me to address your question about police officers prosecuted for criminal offences. We discussed your question and I explained that there was no definition of a "non-minor" offence. I explained that I could provide you with the number and nature of crimes that police officers have been both prosecuted for and convicted of, over the past three years. We agreed that I would provide this data and also agreed that I would provide details of the manner in which officers in receipt of criminal convictions had been disciplined by the MPS.
Please find the following tables below in answer to your questions. Please note that any prosecutions and/or criminal convictions, relate to officer conduct both on and off duty.
Table one: MPS officers that appeared before a court for a criminal offence between 01/04/2006 and 31/10/2009, broken down by charge category description and financial year.
The financial year 2009/10 refers to the period 01/04/2009 to 31/10/2009. This is the case for all tables provided. Please note that the offences within the charge category 'other' are not able to be categorised within the stated charge categories. Please also note that of the 191 traffic related offences, 37 relate to drink drive whilst the remainder relate to other traffic offences.
Table two: MPS officers that appeared before a court for a criminal offence between 01/04/2006 and 31/10/2009, broken down by charge result and financial year.
The charge result entitled 'Awaits' refers to instances where the disciplinary outcome is awaited or is to be updated upon the MPS Complaints, Conduct and Discipline System.
Table three: MPS officers proven guilty at court for a criminal offence between 01/04/2006 and 31/10/2009, broken down by charge category description and financial year.
The offences within the charge category 'other' are not able to be categorised within the stated charge categories. Please also note that of the 165 traffic related offences, 36 relate to drink drive whilst the remainder relate to other traffic offences.
Table four: MPS officers proven guilty at court for a criminal offence between 01/04/2006 and 31/10/2009, broken down by disciplinary outcome and financial year.
The charge result entitled 'Awaits' refers to instances where the disciplinary outcome is awaited or is to be updated upon the MPS Complaints, Conduct and Discipline System.
Table five: MPS officers subject to fast track, formal action, formal discipline and formal misconduct sanctions under Police Conduct Regulations 2004, broken down by misconduct sanction description and financial year.
All police forces in England and Wales were required to discipline police officers in accordance with the Police Conduct Regulations 2004. The Police Conduct Regulations 2004 have now been superseded by the Police Conduct Regulations 2008.
Table six: MPS officers subject to fast track, formal action, formal discipline and formal misconduct sanctions under Police Conduct Regulations 2008, broken down by misconduct sanction description and financial year.
All police forces in England and Wales are required to discipline police officers in accordance with the Police Conduct Regulations 2008.
The MPS treats each incident where a member of staff is convicted of a criminal offence seriously and will, in each instance, review the suitability of that member of staff, to continue to serve with the MPS. Each case is judged upon its merits and where dismissal is deemed not appropriate, the MPS will determine whether an alternative sanction is justified. This review is undertaken in accordance with current legislation and Home Office guidance. Any employee convicted of a criminal offence is robustly disciplined by the MPS in accordance with these guidelines.
It is important to recognise that the MPS currently employs in excess of 33,000 police officers. The number of police officers convicted of criminal offences each year accordingly, represents a very small percentage of those employed by the MPS. It is also important to note that the overwhelming majority of criminal convictions were received for traffic related offences.
Please note that the MPS, as well as all police forces in England and Wales, follow national standards set by the Home Office regarding both the recruitment and retention of police officers with criminal convictions. These standards permit the recruitment and retention of staff with criminal convictions within very strict criteria.
All MPS employees are expected to behave professionally, ethically and with the utmost integrity at all times. Any instance where the conduct of our staff brings the service into disrepute is treated extremely seriously by the MPS.
I would to thank you for your interest in the MPS
