Lancashire police misconduct shock

Allegations ranged from assault, theft and drink driving to possessing child porn, fraud, making threats to kill and rape.

The full details have been made public only because of a Freedom of Information request by the Lancashire Telegraph.

It has led to calls for police misconduct hearings to be held in public, mirroring the open system in place for other public sector staff such as teachers, doctors and nurses.

But police bosses insisted matters should remain private, and stressed the number of rogue officers was a small minority.

The Telegraph asked Lancashire police for details of officers arrested over the past three years and the outcome of any resulting misconduct hearings.

In response to the FOI, police gave details such as arrest date, the general type of allegation, whether it was against an officer or staff member and the misconduct outcome.

It did not reveal the name or rank of the those involved. However some of the more serious cases are already in the public domain after high-profile court cases, including Nelson Sergeant Salim Razaq who was jailed for running his brother’s drugs gang.

Out of 67 Lancashire Constabulary employees arrested, action was taken against 55.

Of those, 36 either resigned, were told to quit or were dismissed.

The Telegraph’s FOI comes as a separate investigation by the Times newspaper revealed a ‘postcode lottery’ across forces when it comes to misconduct hearings, with police more likely to be dismissed in Lancashire than most other constabularies.

Blackburn MP and former Home Secretary Jack Straw said: "It's a very difficult area. The public certainly have the right to know the conclusion of the proceedings.

“The dilemma is that the more public the proceedings are, the more protracted they are likely to be.

"But I cannot think of any reason why the conclusions should not be made public.

"I was concerned when I was Home Secretary that sometimes people resigned and avoided punishment for very serious disciplinary matters. I think that has now been prevented."

He added: "Overall, Lancashire is a well-run force. My experience is that they are well-disciplined, compared to other forces."

Malcolm Doherty, chairman of the Lancashire Police Authority, said it 'would be better' to have nationally-set misconduct guidelines.

But he insisted internal disciplinary matters should remain private.

Coun Doherty said: “I don't know of any employers in the public or private sector where these procedures are held in public. Even with teachers and nurses the discipline is done in private and then the council hearings are concerned with being struck off.

"We must remember that the number in Lancashire is relatively small compared to the size of the organisation. Our force treats the complaints very seriously and rigorously investigates them. I would hope that would be the national standard."

The Telegraph’s FOI reveals several individuals given warnings, advice or a reprimand at divisional meetings when their behaviour fell short of criminal action.

Of the total Lancashire police arrests, eight were in eastern division covering Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley; 14 in Pennine covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale and 10 in Southern, which covers Chorley, Leyland and West Lancashire.

Amongst them was a member of police staff in Pennine who was arrested in September 2009 on suspicion of a sexual offence against a child in Burnley. They were given a police caution, but resigned before a disciplinary hearing.

In Eastern division a police staff worker was held in May last year over allegations of racially aggravated harassment over the internet. They were also given a police caution and resigned before the internal hearing.

Should police misconduct hearings be held in public?

NURSES, doctors, teachers and lawyers face public hearings when accused of misconduct.

And Gary Bell, who stood down as Lancashire Police Authority member and chairman of the professional standards committee last week, said there should be similar transparency in the police.

The former councillor, who oversaw meetings on the force’s internal investigations, said: “It can give people more faith and confidence in the system.

“As soon as it is behind closed doors people straight away think ‘what’s going on there? Why is it different for police?’.

“Hearings should be made public or the public should be allowed to attend.

“I also think that there should be a core standardisation across the country for officers concerned. Why should someone who commits an offence get pilloried in Lancashire and let-off in Durham?”

No professional body exists to regulate the work of police, unlike nurses, doctors, teachers and lawyers.

In those industries hearings by these misconduct bodies are held in public, with the accused named and the evidence reported by the media.

But for the police only the most serious cases are heard in court. Many more officers or staff are disciplined, but the details are never released.

John O’Reilly, Lancashire Police Federation chairman, has sat in on scores of misconduct hearings at force headquarters in Hutton and agreed there was a difference in how forces dealt with discipline.

He said: “In our view other forces are not as well advanced in dealing with discipline issues “In Lancashire, any officer going before a misconduct hearing should expect to leave the force, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The professional standards department is very tight on issues of integrity and we work with them.

“We won’t have criminals in our organisation.”

Mr O’Reilly said he believed that misconduct hearings should remain in private.

He added: “There’s a difference between what is in the public interest and what is interesting to the public.”

Chief Constable Paul West, the Association of Chief Police Officers boss for professional standards, backed the current system.

He said: “In all misconduct proceedings, the complainant or interested person has the absolute right to attend those proceedings.

“Mistakes are rightly analysed but police officers and police staff should also be supported for their daily successes.”