Due to poor filtering mechanisms, UK police forces are allowing criminals and sex predators to join their ranks, a report has claimed.
A report into “vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service” conducted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has said that certain forces in the UK are inadvertently allowing criminals and sex predators to join their ranks.
The investigation was launched as a result of the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, who was abducted by an off-duty police officer under the false pretence that she was breaking COVID lockdown rules.
According to the report published on Wednesday, a significant number of police forces in the country are not properly filtering out applicants who have been accused of serious offences, including sexual assault, in the past.
In particular, the report outlines two case studies where police applicants were granted clearance despite being accused of committing acts that could constitute sexual assault, one of which involved a police officer transferring to another force, with another involving an individual attempting to become a member of law enforcement for the first time.
With such instances of alleged sex offenders falling through the cracks when it comes to security vetting, the report warns that UK law enforcement is risking the safety of the general public.
“It’s far too easy for the wrong people to get in,” the head of HMICFRS, Matt Parr, told the BBC.
“I think police leaders need to understand that unless they’re much tighter with who they recruit, much tighter with who they transfer between forces, and have a much lower tolerance for the normalised, sexualised bad behaviour towards women, both members of the public and in the force… they’re going to keep getting scandals and public trust is going to continue to erode,” he continued.
While Wednesday’s report was sparked by the brutal rape and murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of an off-duty officer, such a killing does not represent the first time a member of the UK police committed a sexual offence against a member of the general public.
Noted within the report is a case from 2011 where an officer was jailed for life after “carrying out sex attacks on vulnerable women he met while on duty”.
According to the report, the officer involved was eventually “convicted of two charges of rape, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in public office”.
Another officer was jailed for 19 years after being found guilty of “ten rapes, two offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one offence of sexual touching and two common assault”.
The report notes that, despite the long rap sheet, not all of the allegations against the imprisoned officer actually ended up in court.
There have also been repeated allegations against officers that they have in some way been involved in Muslim child rape gangs operating in Britain, though such accusations are often disputed by the accused.