§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of complaints made against the police in 1979 alleging assault; how many and what percentage of these led, respectively, to prosecution and conviction; what were the penalties imposed on conviction; what internal disciplinary action was taken by the police and in how many cases, both where prosecution or conviction took place and where it did not.
§ Mr. BrittanThe information available centrally relates to complaints on which all action was completed in 1979, whether received in that year or carried over from previous years. 2,985 complaints alleged assault, of which 98 were found to be substantiated. Statistics on the number174W and percentage of these that led respectively to prosecution and conviction are not collected, but information about the number of police officers convicted as a result of a complaint investigation shows that 12 officers were found guilty of offences of violence against the person or summary assault, of whom four were sentenced to imprisonment. Under the Police (Discipline) Regulations 1977 it is a disciplinary offence for an officer to be convicted of a criminal offence. Details of the punishments in respect of the 12 officers mentioned above are not available.