§ Mr. Hirstasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will detail for each of the past 10 years (a) the number of police officers in England and Wales charged with criminal offences arising from their duty, (b) the number of police officers subsequently convicted and (c) the nature of the offence in respect of which the officers were charged, with appropriate numbers of charges and convictions.
§ Mr. HurdThe information requested is not available in the form required. Statistics showing the number of
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Number of officers convicted of criminal offences Offence Group Arising from complaint from members of the public Arising from other circumstances Indictable a) Violence against the person 1983 13 4 1982 10 10 1981 11 2 1980 10 6 1979 10 4 b) Sexual offences 1983 1 4 1982 — 1 1981 — 3 1980 — 1 1979 2 — c) Burglary 1983 — 1 1982 — — 1981 — 3 1980 1 2 1979 — 3 d) Robbery 1983 — — 1982 — — 1981 — 1 1980 — 1 1979 — 1 e) Theft and handling stolen goods 1983 1 27 1982 3 20 1981 5 26 1980 3 31 1979 3 39 f) Fraud and forgery 1983 1 5 1982 1 10 1981 1 7 1980 3 13 1979 2 3 g) Criminal damage 1983 1 2 1982 — — 1981 — 2 1980 2 2 1979 — 4 h) Perjury 1983 1 2 1982 — 3 1981 2 1 1980 — 5 1979 — — i) Corruption 1983 3 3 1982 — 2 1981 2 3 officers convicted of criminal offences are published annually in the annual report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (in respect of provincial forces) and the report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. Copies of these reports may be found in the Library of the House. The Commissioner's report for 1983 has already been published and the 1983 report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector is due for publication on 11 July.
The statistics that are collected show the number of officers convicted of a criminal offence but not the number charged. Nor, except in the case of traffic offences do they distinguish between offences which occurred on and off duty. Figures are broken down to show the offence group under which the officer was convicted. This additional information is readily available only for the past five years and is shown in the following table.
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Offence Group Arising from complaint from members of the public Arising from other circumstances 1980 3 4 1979 4 1 j) Other indictable offences 1983 1 7 1982 — 9 1981 4 7 1980 4 — 1979 l 4 Non Indictable k) Assault 1983 3 1 1982 1 1 1981 1 — 1980 4 — 1979 2 — 1) Other offences (not traffic) 1983 4 17 1982 1 19 1981 1 19 1980 1 22 1979 4 40 m) Traffic offences 1983 10 905 1982 15 905 1981 21 931 1980 27 831 1979 45 736 Totals 1983 37 980 1982 31 980 1981 48 1,005 1980 55 924 1979 73 835