Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Police officers suspended for years during misconduct investigations

Some police officers are suspended for more than three years while misconduct investigations are being carried out, the BBC has discovered.

An officer from Devon and Cornwall said she attempted to take her own life while suspended for 1,231 days.

The Home Office said it was working “to ensure a more effective, timely and fairer hearing process”.

About £13m was paid to officers suspended by 29 UK police forces between 2013 and 2018.

A further 20 forces did not reveal their totals following Freedom of Information requests.

It took seven years for an investigation to be concluded into an officer who was cleared of assault during the London riots.

In Merseyside, a PC was paid more than £132,000 while suspended for 1,302 days, while an Essex officer was paid nearly £145,000 while suspended for 1,246 working days.

Phil Matthews, conduct lead at the Police Federation, said: “There’s no other field of work where you’d have an employment matter hanging over you and the threat of the loss of your job hanging over you for so long.

“I think a lot of it is staffing from the [Independent Office for Police Conduct] side, I think some of it is a lack of knowledge, lack of training, a lack of understanding of police policies, police training and criminal law.”

Read the full story here.

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