Nine officers from Cheshire Constabulary have been found guilty of sexual misconduct over the past five years.

The offences were committed between 2010 and the present day. Seven of these nine officers were either dismissed from the force or resigned as a result of the investigation into them.

One of these cases was that of a 26-year-old male officer who attempted to form a sexual relationship with a vulnerable 22-year-old woman.

Another 24-year-old male PCSO was dismissed and subsequently imprisoned in the same year after being found guilty of a child sex offence.

When the relative size of the police force is taken into account Cheshire police was above the national average in terms of the number of sexual offences that resulted in an officer leaving the force.

Cheshire Constabulary Coat of Arms
Cheshire Constabulary Coat of Arms

As of March 2014 there were 1,925 officers employed by the force which means that over the five year period from 2010 to 2014, 0.41 out of every hundred officers were dismissed or resigned following sexual misconduct.

The average for all police forces was lower than this at 0.27 per every 1,000 officers.

Across Britain’s police forces 522 officers were found guilty of sexual misconduct and 252 of these officers subsequently went on to either lose their job or leave their job over the investigation into them.

The data, obtained from 39 out of the 44 police forces in England and Wales as well as Police Scotland, showed that officers were found guilty of a range of offences from having sex on duty to sexually abusing children.

Sexual misconduct complaints can be brought by both members of the public and police staff.

One of the worst hit forces in terms of the seriousness of the offences was Humberside.

In 2011 both a male and a female officer were found guilty of engaging in sexual activity with a child on separate occasions. Both left the force.

This comes a fortnight after a senior detective in Nottinghamshire Police force claimed that forces did not fully understand the problem of sexual predators within policing.

Detective Superintendent Jackie Alexander said that senior leaders need to “open their minds” to the fact that “sexual predators” operate in British policing and that in some cases officers who are found guilty of sexual offences against victims - many of them vulnerable - represent the greatest abuse of power.

Alexander, head of Nottinghamshire Police’s Professional Standards Department (PSD), added that forces are nervous about the issue and, like many other organisations, fear the impact it has on their organisation.

In a presentation to delegates at the Police Superintendents’ Association annual conference, Det Supt Alexander said: “Forces have not tried to cover it [cases of sexual misconduct] up [but] there is evidence that they have not understood it.

“At the first sign there could be an indication that it might not have happened they focus on this initial indication rather than being prepared to do the investigation, be clinical, remove the heart and think with your head.”