Statement in relation to BBC article on sexual misconduct claims

We are aware of a BBC report into sexual misconduct within policing which has been broadcast today (Tuesday).

In the article, there is mention to a case involving a Bedfordshire officer who was alleged to have raped a vulnerable member of the public. That allegation was fully investigated at the time, both criminally and for conduct – with both matters being passed to an independent force to review for transparency.

Those investigations concluded there was insufficient evidence to proceed criminally, and no further action was taken regards conduct as outlined below.

For clarity, we have provided the full response given to the BBC below. We are committed to rooting out inappropriate sexual behaviour and are building a culture where colleagues and the public are supported to call out concerns.

We take any allegation of misconduct, particularly those involving inappropriate sexual behaviour, extremely seriously. Since 2020, 16 officers have been dismissed from the force (or would have if they had not already resigned) eight of those were for Violence Against Women and Girls offences. Last month alone four officers were found for gross misconduct and would have been dismissed.

Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst said: “There is no place in this force for anyone who does not uphold the values and standards we expect in policing.

“No stone is being left unturned in our efforts to root out sexual predators working in our force. Recent cases nationally have highlighted the need for us to continually check the backgrounds of our workforce and strengthen our processes to identify anyone who betrays those standards or who poses a risk to the public.

“We are putting additional resources into our Professional Standards Department (PSD) to re-vet our workforce. However, while vetting is a really important tool, it will not identify every person who should not be in policing, which is why we need to keep reinforcing our standards and encourage our workforce to challenge and call out inappropriate behaviour and conduct.

“We have complete focus on developing a culture where colleagues feel supported, empowered and confident to call out concerns to allow us to identify anyone who may pose a risk to the public, or officers and staff. Such people have no place in policing. Getting rid of them is the only way we can truly start to earn back the confidence of our communities.”

We welcome media scrutiny and challenge around such matters, and it is important the media continue to give the public a voice, however it is also important that we clarify the facts around cases.

Comment re BBC case study:

Criminal and conduct investigation:

We treat any allegation against our officers extremely seriously and a full investigation was carried out at the time. A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which concluded there was insufficient evidence and no realistic prospect of a conviction.

A separate misconduct investigation was then carried out however it was determined that there was no case to answer for the officer on three of the four charges, and the remaining charge would not merit dismissal in the event it was proven. Therefore, misconduct proceedings were ended in May 2017.

Both the criminal and conduct investigations were subject to independent review by an external police force. While that review identified some failures in the initial investigation, it agreed with the CPS conclusion and outcome of the conduct investigation.

In relation to the deleted body worn video:

Body worn video footage is only retained past 30 days if it is correctly marked as evidential. Due to an administrative error by an officer this was not correctly processed so was not retained. However, for clarity the allegation was immediately recorded and a further two video-recorded interviews were carried out with the complainant after her initial disclosure. A further disclosure was also made on a later visit which was captured on body worn video and formed part of the investigation.