Abuse of Position For a Sexual Purpose - 004/22

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

1. The total number of reports of Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose submitted to your force between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2021 inclusive.

2. The number of reports of Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose submitted to your force between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2021 inclusive that were made by members of the public.

3. The number of reports of Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose submitted to your force between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2021 inclusive that were made by police officers and staff.

4. All misconduct hearing outcomes for your force for the period 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2021 inclusive.

5. The number of police officers and staff employed by your force who were dismissed for Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2021 inclusive, and the circumstances of these cases.

6. Whether your force's policy on Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose has been revised following the sentencing of former police officer Wayne Couzens.

7. A copy of your force's current Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose policy.

8. A copy of your force's Notifiable Associations policy.

After we sought clarity you confirmed that point 4, relates to every misconduct hearing outcome, irrespective of the offence.

 

In Response:

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Professional Standards Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.

I am able to disclose the located information to you with the following caveats noted as follows

• The data provided was taken from a live system and may be subject to change after the initial extraction of data used for the purposes of this report, data has been checked for this may not necessarily be when the incident took place. Data has been checked for reports of Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2021.

• The data included the cases that fit the definition below.

The abuse of position for a sexual purpose is defined as:

“Any behaviour by a police officer or police staff member,6 whether on or off duty, that takes advantage of their position as a member of the police service to misuse their position, authority or powers in order to pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship with any member of the public. This includes: committing a sexual act, initiating sexual contact with, or responding to any perceived sexually motivated behaviour from another person; entering into any communication that could be perceived as sexually motivated or lewd; or for any other sexual purpose.”

1. 26 cases, of which 10 remain ongoing.

2. 26 cases, of which 10 remain ongoing.

3. None – as per definition above. Abuse of Position relates to inappropriate sexual conduct with members of the public only.

4. All misconduct hearing outcomes:

Year	No Of Hearings	Outcome
2019	14	7 x Dismissed
		6 x Written Warnings
		1 x Management Action
2020	17	11 x Dismissed
		6 x Written Warnings
2021	10	9 x Dismissed
		1 x Written Warning

 

5. 2

1 x Alleged sent a an excessive amount of texts using their work mobile phone to a person they had met through the course of their duty.

1 x Alleged whilst on duty regularly engaged with others and made inappropriate and intimate comments.

 

6. No information held – we do not have a policy or procedure on Abuse of Position.

Outside of the Act we can advise that Officers and staff have to adhere to the Code of Ethics (which includes the Standards of Professional Behaviour) which incorporates abuse of position. The Code of Ethics stipulate:
Authority, Respect and Courtesy:
“Relationships 2.3, According to this standard you must:
• ensure that any relationship at work does not create an actual or apparent conflict of interest
• not engage in sexual conduct or other inappropriate behaviour when on duty
• not establish or pursue an improper sexual or emotional relationship with a person with whom you come into contact in the course of your work who may be vulnerable to an abuse of trust or power.”

Equally under ‘Challenging and Reporting Improper Behaviour’ (as per the Code of Ethics), officers and staff must report or take action against the conduct of colleagues that has fallen below the standards of professional behaviour. Hence if any officer or staff member was carry out an act of abuse of position, then there is an expectation that colleagues will report this conduct.

7. Please refer to our response to Q6 above.

8. As attached.