Metropolitan police put 148 officers on gross misconduct register in the last two years

Gross misconduct: 148 Met officers placed on Disapproved Register
Rex

The Metropolitan Police has the highest number of officers of any force in the country on a gross misconduct register, official figures show.

148 Scotland Yard officers were placed on the Disapproved Register from December 2013 to November 2015

The Ministry of Defence Police had the second highest number of officers on the list, at 56.

Of the 148 investigations, 44 officers chose to resign or retire before their cases were heard.

The register, detailing misconduct investigations, was introduced to prevent officers re-entering the service after being dismissed for misconduct or resigning or retiring while subject to a gross misconduct investigation.

A Met Police spokesman said: “The MPS treats all allegations of misconduct made about our staff very seriously and fully investigates every case to determine whether a criminal offence or a breach of the standards of behaviour has taken place.

“We will take robust action where, on examination of the available evidence, the conduct of our officers is found to have fallen below the standards expected.

“At 32,000 officers we are four times bigger than the next largest police force.”

Half of police officers facing gross misconduct investigations in the last two years resigned or retired before their cases were heard.

This is despite Government steps to bar them from doing so in an amendment to police regulations, which came into effect in January 2015 but did not apply to ongoing investigations.

Among them were 34 officers accused of having a relationship with a vulnerable person, 11 who faced allegations of sexual conduct towards colleagues and 30 accused of domestic abuse.

In 2014/15, eight officers were dismissed and three resigned while under investigation over child sex offences, taking the total for the 24-month period to 16.

The majority of those who were placed on the register were reported by colleagues, with internal complaints the source of 91% of cases in 2013/14 and 84% in 2014/15.

The figures were also broken down by rank and showed the number of police constables who left due to misconduct was 697, while there were 92 sergeants, 39 inspectors, nine chief inspectors, three superintendents and three chief superintendents.

All 43 forces in England and Wales, along with British Transport Police and the Ministry of Defence Police, voluntarily contribute to the register.

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