According to an investigation conducted by the Guardian, analyzing the data from court cases and misconduct proceedings, in the past four years, there were 56 cases involving police officers and community support officers who were found to have abused their position or were investigated for committing rape crime, sexually assaulting or harassing women.
Raising questions about the efficacy of the police complaints system, the study, which documented the scale of the British police corruption, also warned that sexual misconduct could be more widespread than previously believed.
The investigation published on June 29, revealed that police officers have been convicted or disciplined for rape and inappropriate sexual behavior with vulnerable women.
Meanwhile, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) are also carrying out a joint inquiry into the scale of the problem, which will be published in September, 2012.
It was prompted by the case of the Northumbria police constable Stephen Mitchell, who was jailed for life in January last year for carrying out sex attacks on vulnerable women, while he was on duty.
“The damage is far deeper because they [victims] trusted the police and … believed that the police were supposed to protect them from harm and help catch and punish those who perpetrate it,” said Debaleena Dasgupta, a lawyer who has represented women sexually assaulted by police officers.
“The breach of that trust has an enormous effect: they feel that if they can’t trust a police officer, who can they trust? They lose their confidence in everyone, even those in authority. It is one of the worst crimes that can be committed and when committed by an officer, becomes one of the greatest abuses of power.”
SSM/JR/HE
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