Fewer than one in 10 British police officers found to have potentially committed gross misconduct by the watchdog are dismissed, the Guardian can reveal.
Figures released by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) show 641 officers in England and Wales may have so seriously breached standards that they were liable to be sacked between 2015 and 2020, but just 54 (8.4%) were fired after disciplinary action was conducted internally.
Another 848 officers were found to have a case to answer over possible misconduct, but in total only 363 of the misconduct claims have so far been upheld following IOPC recommendations.
There were official warnings in 151 of these cases, and 16 retirements or resignations. Many more disciplinary cases against officers occur without the involvement of the IOPC.
The IOPC received statutory powers in February to ensure forces investigate those found to have a case to answer, but internal police disciplinary panels still have the final say and the watchdog said its role is not to be “judge and jury”.
The figures, obtained through freedom of information requests, raise questions about the efficacy of the IOPC, which receives £71m per year from the Home Office.
These issues were amplified by anti-racism protests in the UK last summer amid concern over police use of force and the number of deaths in custody without officers subsequently facing charges.
Katrina Ffrench, the former CEO of StopWatch, which campaigns for fair policing, said the figures were “indicative of the IOPC’s inability to hold the police to account in any meaningful way” and that the body needed to be subject to true community oversight.
“It is incredibly concerning that people enforcing the law are able to remain in positions of power despite having gross misconduct allegations against them proven,” she said.
“If communities that are distrustful of policing, due to lived experiences, are to believe the institution is fair and there are consequences for bad behaviour, the IOPC must do a better job.”
Victor Olisa, a former Met Ch Supt, said officers “run rings round IOPC investigators” and that the relationship was unequal.
“The police service is not held to account like it ought to be,” he said. “This data shows the rate of IOPC ‘case to answer’ findings to actual disciplinary rulings really is quite low.
“The police cannot work in a vacuum. It has to face questions about how it provides its public service. It should be scrutinised and have its powers balanced.”
The IOPC succeeded the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in 2018, in a reform designed to ensure “greater accountability to the public”.
It followed condemnation over the IPCC’s handling of the death of Mark Duggan, which led to an apology three years after his death in 2014.
But the new body has also come under scrutiny – with critics pointing to the complaints process, its independence and the fact some high profile cases have taken several years.
One concern is that people cannot complain directly to the watchdog and must instead raise issues with the relevant force, which then decides whether to refer itself to the IOPC, to investigate internally, or to take no action – apart from in the event of “serious injury” or death when a referral is mandatory.
About 28% of staff in investigations have previously worked for the police service, with more than one-in-three senior investigators being former officers.
Between 2015 and 2020 the IOPC referred 391 files where there was an indication of a criminal offence by an officer to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which resulted in 69 criminal prosecutions, leading to at least 22 guilty verdicts in which judges passed down four custodial sentences.
The IOPC said it was eager to work with forces, the police union, the CPS and the Home Office to speed up the investigations, and that 83% of reports in 2019-2020 were completed within 12 months.
A spokesperson said: “The majority of public complaints and allegations of misconduct are rightly dealt with by police forces themselves. The discipline system is the responsibility of police forces and is administered by them.”
They said changes were introduced to the complaints and disciplines procedures in February 2020, which include a duty for police witnesses to cooperate with IOPC investigations and a reform so that a “case to answer” finding will now be the final decision.
“Very few cases referred to and investigated by the IOPC will result in criminal prosecution because only a small proportion of those matters involve allegations of criminal activity. Prosecution isn’t the only route for holding police officers accountable for wrongdoing and only applies where criminality is involved. Disciplinary action can range from dismissal and reduction in rank to written warnings, all of which are determined by misconduct panels led by legally qualified chairs for misconduct hearings and senior police officers for misconduct meetings, not the IOPC.
“To obtain a more accurate picture of sanctions against police, you would also have to look at cases brought forward by 43 police force professional standards departments, as they deal with the majority of public complaints and conduct matters.”
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for professional standards, chief constable Craig Guildford said: “The recent changes have seen a shift towards resolving issues earlier, learning lessons faster and a firm focus on the most serious of cases. As these changes further embed we will see the improvement in timeliness, transparency and learning continue.
“Those who let the public, the service and themselves down will be dismissed once the process has taken its course.”