/ Corporate Review Department
Information Management Section
PO Box 9
Laburnum Road
Wakefield
WF1 3QP
Tel: 01924 292486 / 292202 / 292719
Fax: 01924 292726
Email:
Website:
Monday 27th July 2009
Dear ,
FOI Reference No: FOI-20091/78059
Thank you for your request for information dated 31st March 2009. Your request is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).
You asked for:
1. In each of the last 12 years since 1997, how many police officers have been the subject to a disciplinary hearing for (a) all classes of misconduct offences, and (b) for being convicted of a criminal offence?
See attached excel spreadsheet.
2. Of those who have been subject to a disciplinary hearing for any misconduct offence, how many (a) were dismissed with notice, (b) dismissed without notice, (c) resigned, (d) continued as a serving police officer with no penalty, or (e) received a written or final written warning?
See attached excel spreadsheet. Please be aware that West Yorkshire Police does not record the outcome of disciplinary hearings using the terms employed in your question. To collate the data in this way would be problematic as one officer can be subject to numerous allegations with multiple outcomes. Furthermore, re-classifying the data would require some subjective interpretation. The outcomes of hearings have been provided as per the recorded information held by West Yorkshire Police.
3. Of those who have been subject to a disciplinary hearing for having been convicted of a criminal offence, how many (a) were dismissed with notice, (b) dismissed without notice, (c) resigned, (d) continued as a serving police officer with no penalty, or (e) received a written or final written warning?
See attached excel spreadsheet. As above, the outcome of disciplinary hearings has been provided as per the recorded information held by West Yorkshire Police.
4. Of those that resigned or were dismissed as a result of a disciplinary hearing for any misconduct offence, how many appealed the decision of the disciplinary panel to the Police Appeals Tribunal?
Over the period in question, 9 officers that resigned or were dismissed as a result of a disciplinary hearing for an alleged misconduct offence appealed the decision to the Police Appeals Tribunal.
5. Of those that resigned or were dismissed as a result of a disciplinary hearing for being convicted of a criminal offence, how many appealed the decision of the disciplinary panel to the Police Appeals Tribunal?
Over the period in question, 5 officers that resigned or were dismissed as a result of a disciplinary hearing for being convicted of a criminal offence appealed the decision to the Police Appeals Tribunal.
6. Of those that appealed the decision of the disciplinary panel after a hearing for any misconduct offence, how many decisions were overturned by (a) the chief constable (or equivalent) of the police force, (b) the police authority, (c) the Home Secretary, or (d) another person (if (d), then please specify who)?
See attached excel spreadsheet.
7. Of those that appealed the decision of the disciplinary panel after a hearing for being convicted of a criminal offence, how many decisions were overturned by (a) the chief constable (or equivalent) of the police force, (b) the police authority, (c) the Home Secretary, or (d) another person (if (d), then please specify who)?
See attached excel spreadsheet.
West Yorkshire Police takes all allegations of misconduct by serving police officers very seriously. The Misconduct Panel have to make a judgement based on all the evidence available to them, including the previous character of the officer in question and the actual circumstances of the particular allegation. Over the time period in question, regulations and the approach taken to police officer discipline has evolved and providing support to officers alongside any relevant sanctions is more common. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to make any direct comparisons based on the limited data available here.
In addition, the wording of the request makes responding difficult. One officer may appear before a discipline hearing for a number of conduct matters. Each matter may attract a different sanction or be dismissed. As the request is at odds with recording practices, great care needs to be taken prior to making assumptions on the response provided.
Police forces providing information do not use generic systems, nor are the procedures used for capturing the data the same. It should be noted that for these reasons this forces response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request. This is due to a large volume of Freedom of Information requests currently being dealt with by West Yorkshire Police.
COMPLAINT RIGHTS
If you are not satisfied with how this request has been handled or with the information provided, please read the advice notice attached to this letter. If you do wish to take up your right of complaint, please remember to quote the reference number above in any future correspondence.
Yours sincerely
Claire Vickers-Pearson
Freedom of Information Project Officer
ppSteven Harding
Head of Information Management
The West Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, West Yorkshire Police Headquarters, PO Box 9, Laburnum Road, WakefieldWF1 3QP.