WALTHAM FOREST: Police internal complaints revealed

6:24pm Monday 17th November 2008

Comments (3)   Have your say »

PERJURY, corruption and harrassment are just some of the allegations police officers made against their colleagues in Waltham Forest, the Guardian can reveal.

Half the complaints made by officers over the last two years were upheld.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show between January 2006 and September this year, three officers were found guilty of corrupt practices following a complaint by a colleague.

Three officers were found guilty of perjury while an investigation found an officer guilty of improper disclosure of information and another admitted harassment.

Thirteen claims of what the police call 'other neglect or failures in duty' were upheld.

On two occasions the officers implicated by their colleagues were investigated without their knowledge.

In total 66 complaints were made against officers. Of these, 33 were upheld, 23 were rejected, seven are still ongoing and one has been dropped.

Damion Baird, an information manager at the Met Police, said: "We had cause to bring formal misconduct procedures against a very small percentage of its officers serving at Waltham Forest where it has been felt that their conduct has fallen below the standards expected for police officers.

"Where an officer has been found to have breached the code of conduct for police officers, the MPS has robustly disciplined to those officers in accordance with current Home Office guidance.

"All police officers are expected to behave professionally, ethically, and with the utmost integrity at all times. Any instance where the conduct of our staff brings the MPS into disrepute is treated extremely seriously by the police."