30 Officers from West Yorkshire Police Sacked in One Year
West Yorkshire police has sacked 30 officers in the 12 months up to March this year, the highest number in six years, according to the annual report by the College of Policing.
The report aims to show outcomes of dismissals for the most serious disciplinary matters investigated, as well as dismissals for unsatisfactory performance and attendance.
The latest report looks at data from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024, and shows that the national average of officers dismissed per constabulary was 13. West Yorkshire police dismissed 30 officers which puts it in the top 3 in the country. The Metropolitan police had the highest number, with 123 dismissed.
This is a jump from the previous year, 2022-2023, where only 10 officers in West Yorkshire were dismissed, and 88 in the Metropolitan.
Over the last few years, following high profile cases such as the Sarah Everard case, the numbers of dismissed officers have been rising as investigations into the Metropolitan police have led to a crackdown on police misconduct.
Calls to change the culture in policing and institutional corruption investigations have led to an increase in the number of officers dismissed or barred year on year.
In response to a Freedom of Information request in September last year, West Yorkshire Police stated that they are ‘open and accountable about misconduct proceedings involving police officers’.
The statement included a list of sexual misconduct cases where police officers faced disciplinary actions over the last three years, and included a number of cases in which a male officer had abused his position for sexual purposes.
While the report from the College of Policing does not show the individual cases in each constabulary, it highlights the most common reason for an officer’s dismissal among all forces – dishonesty.
There were 125 instances of dishonesty out of a total of 912 instances. However, as multiple reasons can be cited as ground for dismissal, it is likely that of the 593 officers dismissed, their dishonesty went hand in hand with other offences.
Words By: Nina Sorrentino