UK police face over 1,000 complaints about treatment of women

More than 1,000 complaints were made against police officers and staff in Britain relating to their treatment of women within a period of six months, new figures show.

Data released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on Tuesday showed 653 conduct cases, against 672 individuals, relating to violence against women and girls between October 2021 and March 2022.

There were also 524 complaints made by members of the public against 867 people in the same time period.

The complaints were related to various allegations including sexual harassment, discreditable conduct not in the execution of their duty, and sexual assault.

Police leaders will release the statistics each year as part of efforts to tackle misogyny in policing after scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer and Pc David Carrick being unmasked as a prolific sex offender.

The NPCC said the figures, for all police forces in England and Wales including the British Transport Police, equated to 0.7 per cent of the total police workforce employed in March 2022.

However, out of the conduct cases, just under half, 48 per cent related to discreditable conduct not in the execution of their duty, around a fifth (19 per cent) were allegations of sexual assault, and 13 per cent were accusations of sexual harassment.

Among the complaints from the public, 63 per cent were accusations over use of force, 9 per cent overbearing or harassing behaviour, and 6 per cent sexual assault.