Review of Misconduct Proceedings

Introduction

Completed Misconduct Proceedings 01.01.2022 to 30.06.2023
This report provides information as to findings regarding to Police Officer and Staff Misconduct Proceedings within Nottinghamshire Police between 1st January 2022 and 30th June 2023.

Summary

• Police Officer Misconduct Meeting1 was the most common proceeding type at 41% of all referrals. (Fig 1)
• Accelerated Misconduct Hearings2, heard before the Chief Constable, was 35% of all referrals. (Fig 1)
• Total referrals for the first six months of 2023 are 17, which is an increase of 55% from the same period in 2022.
• Projections for total referrals for 2023 is 45, compared to 29 in 2022.
• Police Officer Part 4 Misconduct Hearings3 are the least common type of proceedings, with only 4% of the total number of referrals for the period. (Fig 1)
• Of all persons subject to proceedings approximately 66% were / are still serving at time of proceedings, with approximately 33% having resigned prior to proceedings. (Fig 2)
• Of all of the misconduct proceedings during the period, 50% involved male police officers as the subject of the proceedings, whilst 26% relate to female police officers as the subject of those proceedings. 4% relate to female Special Constables, with 13% relating to female members of police staff and 7% relating to male members of police staff (Fig 3)
• 66% of all police staff referrals relate to females. (Fig 3) This is proportionate to the police staff gender mix.4
• Gender figures are comparable from 2022 and 2023
• 85% of misconduct proceedings relate to officers/staff from a White British background (Fig 4)
• 75% of all proceedings relate to frontline uniformed officers and staff. (Fig 5)

• 41% of all proceedings involve persons aged 20 - 29 years. This age group account for 36% of all police officer proceedings and 60% of all police staff proceedings (Fig 6)

• 43% of all proceedings relate to officers and staff with up to 2 years service, increasing to 57% relating to officers and staff with 4 years service or less. (Fig 7)

• Over half (56%) of proceedings relate to police constables, 9% relate to officers of the rank of Inspector. (Fig 8)

• Two thirds of proceedings were held in public were5 (Fig 9)

• Accelerated Misconduct Hearings totalled 10 in 2022. 6 have been held in the first six months of 2023. (Fig 10)

• Of the 16 AMHs, 10 relate to officers who resigned whilst being investigated. (Fig 10)

• All but 3 of the AMH’s resulted in the officer, or former officer, being dismissed without notice, or would have been dismissed had they not already resigned. These former officers are now included on the College of Policing Barred List.6 (Fig 10)

• Of 19 Misconduct Meeting proceedings relating to police officers, 18 were found proven. 28% resulted in a Final Written Warning and 72% in a Written Warning. The one case found not proven was referred to the Reflective Practice Review Process.7 (Fig 12)

• Of the 2 Gross Misconduct Proceedings3 against police officers, chaired by an independent Legally Qualified Chair, both were dismissed or would have been dismissed. (Fig 11)

• Of the 9 Police Staff Misconduct Hearings, 66% were found proven and the employee was dismissed / would have been dismissed. One was found proven with a Final Written Warning, and one found proven, but no further action as the staff member had already resigned and dismissal was not found to be an appropriate sanction. (Fig 13)

• There have been 4 appeals against findings and / or sanction in the period reviewed. 2 relate to appeals submitted by officers following dismissal at a AMH, and 1 relates to a dismissal outcome following a Part 4 Gross Misconduct Hearing. The final appeal relates to a Police Staff Gross Misconduct Hearing dismissal. No appeals were successful.8 (Fig 14)

• Computer Misuse is the most significant reason for misconduct proceedings, accounting for a quarter of all proceedings. 13% related to misconduct involving social media and / or text messaging, and 20% related to the night-time economy or alcohol. (Fig 14)

• Misconduct was equally split between either ‘on duty’ or ‘off duty’ conduct at 43% each, with 14% of proceedings relating to conduct both on and off duty. (Fig 15)

Superscripts

1 – Police Officer Misconduct Meetings chaired by an officer of at least the rank of Chief Inspector. If Misconduct is found proven, then the sanctions available are a Written Warning or Final Written Warning.
(Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 Reg 42(2))

2 – Cases are referred to Accelerated Misconduct Hearings (also known as Part 5 Hearings) chaired by the Chief Constable where the conduct was determined by the Appropriate Authority to be to the level of Gross Misconduct and that it is in the public interest that the officer ceases to be an officer. If the Chief Constable finds Gross Misconduct then they may impose a sanction of dismissal without notice, would have been dismissed had the former officer remained employed, a reduction in rank, a Final Written Warning from between 2 to 5 years.
(Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 Reg 49 and Reg 62)

3 – Cases are referred to Police Officer Gross Misconduct Hearings (also known as Part 4 Hearings) presided over by a Legally Qualified Chair where the Appropriate Authority has determined that the officer has a case to answer for conduct amounting to Gross Misconduct. On a finding of case proven to the level of Gross Misconduct then the sanctions available to the panel are dismissal without notice, would have been dismissed had the former officer remained employed, a reduction in rank or a Final Written Warning from between 2 to 5 years.
(Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 Reg 42(3))

4 - source www.police.uk workforce diversity data 2021 in Nottinghamshire Police. (Male Officers 69.5%; Female Officers 30.5%; Male Staff 36.3%; Female Staff 63.7%)

5 – Home Office Guidance refers to the principle that misconduct hearings should be in public (HOG 11.83). However, Chairs of relevant hearings may decide to hold proceedings in private.
(Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 Reg 36 (Part 4 Hearings) and Reg 53 (Part 5 Hearings)

6 – The Barred List is maintained and published by the College of Policing documenting all officers, special constables and police staff who have been dismissed from policing after investigations under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 and includes those who resigned from the service whilst under investigation but the case against them was found proven and the sanction determined to be dismissal had the former officer remained employed. The list acts as a bar on working within policing and certain law enforcement agencies to ensure high standards are maintained.

7 – An officer may be referred to the Reflective Practice Review Process should the chair of proceedings determine that the conduct of the officer does not amount to Misconduct but where reflection so as to improve performance is required.
(Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 Part 6)

8 – Appeals to findings/sanctions imposed under Part 4 and Part 5 are dealt with independent of the police under The Police Appeals Tribunals Rules 2020

Fig 1. Type of Proceedings held and if allegation(s) proven

Misconduct Proceedings Completed	2022		2023 to date		Total
	Total	No with Allegations Proven	Total	No with Allegations Proven	Total	No with Allegations Proven
Officer / Special Constable – (Part 5) Accelerated Misconduct Hearing	10	10	6	6	16	16
Officer / Special Constable – (Part 4) Misconduct Hearing	2	2	-	-	2	2
Officer / Special Constable – Misconduct Meeting	11	11	8	8	19	19
Police Staff Misconduct Hearing	6	6	3	2	9	8
Police Staff - Misconduct Meeting	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	29	29	17	16	46	45

 

Fig 2. Employment status of individuals at time of proceedings

Employment Status at Time of Proceedings	2022	2023 to date	Total
	Number	Number	Number
Officer	17	9	26
Former Officer	6	3	9
Special Constable	-	-	-
Former Special Constable	-	2	2
Police Staff	3	1	4
Former Police Staff	3	2	5
Total	29	17	46
(Total Serving)	(20)	(10)	(30)
(Total Former)	(9)	(7)	(16)

 

Fig 3. Individuals subject to proceedings by gender

Gender	2022		2023 to date		Total
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Officer / Former	14	9	9	3	23	12
Special Constable / Former	-	-	-	2	-	2
Police Staff / Former	2	4	1	2	3	6
Total	16	13	10	7	26	20

 

Fig 4. Individuals subject to proceedings by Self-Defined Ethnicity

Self-Defined Ethnicity	2022
	W1	A2	B2	M1	O9	W9
(Former) Officer – Male	12	2	1	-	-	-
(Former) Officer – Female	7	1	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Male	-	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Female	-	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Staff – Male	1	-	-	-	1	-
(Former) Staff – Female	3	-	-	1	-	-
Total – Male	13	2	1	-	1	-
Total – Female	10	1	-	1	-	-
Total	23	3	1	1	1	-

 

Self-Defined Ethnicity	2023 to date
	W1	A2	B2	M1	O9	W9
(Former) Officer – Male	9	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Officer – Female	3	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Male	-	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Female	2	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Staff – Male	1	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Staff – Female	1	-	-	-	-	-
Total – Male	10	-	-	-	-	-
Total – Female	6	-	-	-	-	-
Total	16	-	-	-	-	-

 

Self-Defined Ethnicity	Total
	W1	A2	B2	M1	O9	W9
(Former) Officer – Male	21	2	1	-	-	-
(Former) Officer – Female	10	1	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Male	-	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Special Constable – Female	-	-	-	-	-	-
(Former) Staff – Male	2	-	-	-	1	-
(Former) Staff – Female	4	-	-	1	-	1
Total – Male	23	2	1	-	1	-
Total – Female	16	1	-	1	-	1
Total	39	3	1	1	1	1

W1 White British.
A2 Asian Pakistani.
B2 Black African.
M1 mixed White & Black Caribbean.
O9 any other ethnic group
W9 any other white background

 

Fig 5. Base location of individual at commencement of proceedings

Division / Department	2022
	Total	Officer	Special Officer	Police Staff
County Division	11	11	-	-
City Division	6	6	-	-
Criminal Justice	1	-	-	1
Intelligence & Investigations 7	2	1	-	1
Contact Management	4	1	-	3
Corporate Development/Services	1	-	-	1
Operational Support Department	2	2	-	-
PPU	2	2	-	-
Professional Standards Directorate	-	-	-	-
Learning & Development	-	-	-	-
Total	29	23	-	6

 

Division / Department	2023 to date
	Total	Officer	Special Officer	Police Staff
County Division	8	5	1	2
City Division	8	6	1	1
Criminal Justice	1	1	-	-
Intelligence & Investigations 7	-	-	-	-
Contact Management	-	-	-	-
Corporate Development/Services	-	-	-	-
Operational Support Department	-	-	-	-
PPU	-	-	-	-
Professional Standards Directorate	-	-	-	-
Learning & Development	-	-	-	-
Total	17	12	2	3

 

Division / Department	2022
	Total	Officer	Special Officer	Police Staff
County Division	19	16	1	2
City Division	14	12	1	1
Criminal Justice	2	1	-	1
Intelligence & Investigations 7	2	1	-	1
Contact Management	4	1	-	3
Corporate Development/Services	1	-	-	1
Operational Support Department	2	2	-	-
PPU	2	2	-	-
Professional Standards Directorate	-	-	-	-
Learning & Development	-	-	-	-
Total	46	35	2	9

 

Fig 6. Individual’s Age

Individuals subject to proceedings broken down by age (at time of conduct leading to proceedings):

Age Range	2022			2023			Total
	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff
18 - 19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20 – 24	3	1	2	3	1	2	6	2	4
25 – 29	9	8	1	4	3	1	13	11	2
30 - 34	4	3	1	3	3	-	7	6	1
35 - 39	4	3	1	2	2	-	6	5	1
40 - 44	4	4	-	-	-	-	4	4	-
45 - 49	3	3	-	3	3	-	6	6	-
50 - 54	2	1	1	1	-	1	3	1	2
55 - 59	-	-	-	1	1	-	1	1	-

 

Fig 7. Length of Service

Individuals subject to proceedings broken down by length of service (at time of conduct leading to proceedings):

Service Range	2022			2023			Total
	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff	Total	Officers incl Specials	Police Staff
0 - 2	13	9	4	7	5	2	20	14	6
3 - 4	3	2	1	3	3	-	6	5	1
5 - 9	3	3	-	1	-	1	4	3	1
10 - 14	2	2	-	2	2	-	4	4	-
15 - 19	5	5	-	1	1	-	6	6	-
20 - 24	2	2	-	3	3	-	5	5	-
25 - 29	1	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	1
30+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

 

Fig 8. Officer rank at commencement of proceedings

Rank	2022			2023 to date			Total
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Constable (inc Special Constable)	8	7	15	8	3	11	16	10	26
Sergeant	4	2	6	1	-	1	5	2	7
Inspector	2	-	2	-	1	1	2	1	3
Chief Inspector	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	1	1
Police Staff	2	4	6	1	2	3	3	6	9
Total	16	13	29	10	7	17	26	20	46

 

Fig 9. Misconduct Proceedings held in Public v Private

Public or Private Proceedings	2022			2023 to date			Total
	Public	Private	Total	Public	Private	Total	Public	Private	Total
Accelerated Misconduct Hearings	5	5	10	5	1	6	10	6	16
Gross Misconduct Hearing	2	-	2	-	-	-	2	-	2
Total	7	5	12	5	1	6	12	6	18

 

Fig 10. Accelerated Misconduct Hearing Outcomes

Police Officer Accelerated Misconduct Hearings (Part 5) chaired by a Chief Constable.

2022	Rank	Total No.	Dismissed	Dismissed If Not Resigned	Reduction In Rank	Final Written Warning
	Officer	5	3	-	-	2
	Former Officer	5	-	5	-	-
	Special Constable	-	-	-	-	-
	Former Special Constable	-	-	-	-	-
	Total	10	3	5	-	2

 

2023 to date	Rank	Total No.	Dismissed	Dismissed If Not Resigned	Reduction In Rank	Final Written Warning
	Officer	1	-	-	1	-
	Former Officer	3	-	3	-	-
	Special Constable	-	-	-	-	-
	Former Special Constable	2	-	2	-	-
	Total	6	-	5	1	-

 

Total	Rank	Total No.	Dismissed	Dismissed If Not Resigned	Reduction In Rank	Final Written Warning
	Officer	6	3	-	1	2
	Former Officer	8	-	8	-	-
	Special Constable	-	-	-	-	-
	Former Special Constable	2	-	2	-	-
	Total	16	3	10	1	2

 

Fig 11. Gross Misconduct Hearings Outcomes

Police Officer Gross Misconduct Hearings (Part 4) chaired by LQC:

(Part 4) Misconduct Hearing Outcome	Total No.	Dismissed	Dismissed if not Resigned	Reduction In Rank	Final Written Warning
2022	2	1	1	-	-
2023	0	-	-	-	-
Total	2	1	1	-	-

 

Fig 12. Misconduct Meetings Outcomes

Police Officer Misconduct Meetings chaired by officer not below rank of Chief Inspector:

Misc Meetings Outcomes		Total	Proven	Not Proven	Final Written Warning	Written Warning	Refer to RPRP
2022	Officer incl Specials	11	11	-	3	8	-
2023	Officer incl Specials	8	7	1	2	5	1
Total	Officer incl Specials	19	18	1	5	13	1

RPRP – Referred to Reflective Practice Review Process

 

Fig 13. Staff Misconduct Hearings Outcomes

Staff Misconduct Hearings chaired by officer not below rank of Superintendent:

Police Staff Misconduct Hearing Outcome	2022		2023 to date		Total to date
	Police Staff	Former Police Staff	Police Staff	Former Police Staff	Police Staff	Former Police Staff
Number of Hearings	3	3	1	2	4	5
Dismissed	2	-	1	-	3	-
Would have been dismissed	-	2	-	1	-	3
Final Written Warning	1	1	-	-	1	1
No Further Action	-	-	-	1	-	1

 

Fig 14. Appeals Submitted

No appeals submitted in 2023 – all relate to proceedings in 2022

Misconduct Proceeding Appeals	Total No.	AMH	Staff Misconduct Hearing	Officer Misconduct Meeting	Upheld	Not Upheld
Officer / Former Officer	3	2	-	-	-	3
Former Special Constable	-	-	-	-	-	-
Police Staff	1	-	1	-	-	1
Total	4	2	1	-	-	4

 

Fig 15. Identified National & Local Factors

National / Local Factors	2022	2023	Total
Using Position for Sexual Purpose	1	-	1
Domestic Abuse	1	1	2
NTE / Alcohol Related	6	3	9
Drugs	1	-	1
Computer Misuse	6	5	11
Social Media / Texts	5	1	6
Vetting	2	-	2
VAWG	-	3	3
Covid	1	-	1