FOI Police Officer Sexual Offences (30-2024/25)

Request

I am writing to request information regarding reports of sexual offences and misconduct made against officers in your force between 2020 and 2024. In particular, I am writing to request information about:
Q1. the date each report was received;
Q2. the types of sexual offences reported
Q3. If the report was about a sexual offence classified in the  Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Part 1), please refer to the offence as named in that Act (e.g., 'assault by penetration', 'voyeurism').
Q4. If the report concerned sexual misconduct which is not mentioned in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, please provide a brief description of the misconduct (e.g., 'sexual harassment via derogatory sexual comments')
Q5. the date each offence allegedly occurred;
Q6. whether an investigation was launched into the report;
Q7. whether a conviction was made for each alleged offence;
Q8. whether the offence was allegedly committed by an officer against whom a sexual offence report had been made in the past;
Q9. If so, how many prior reports had been made against the officer and what outcome they had
Q10. whether the alleged victim was employed by the force;
Q11. the gender of the alleged victim and perpetrator;
Q12. whether the offence was allegedly committed while the officer was on duty.
I would appreciate it if you could provide me with the most recent data available on the above between 2020 and 2024. The format I would like this data to be presented in is exhibited by the attached Excel file.

Response
Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Q1. I am exempting any information to this question pursuant to Section 40(2) - Personal Information of the act. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q2 & Q3. Please see the table below which details the type and count closed allegations of sexual misconduct recorded by North Yorkshire Police from 01 January 2020 to 02 April 2024, broken down by offence type. I have exempted the individual count for each offence type pursuant to Section 40(2) - Personal Information of the act. I am also exempting any information on cases which remain under investigation at the time pursuant to Section 31(1)(g) by virtue of 2(b) – for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct which is improper. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Offence Type	Count
Sexual Harassment	<5
Sexual Assault	6
Rape	<5
Voyeurism	<5
Abuse of Position for a Sexual Purpose	<5
Total	12

I note that this is the individual count of allegations made and not the number of officers involved. A single officer may have 2 or more allegations against them.

Q4. N/A – all allegations made are in relation to sexual offences as classified by the sexual offences act.

Q5. I am exempting any information to this question pursuant to Section 40(2) - Personal Information of the act. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Q6. 12 - All allegations are investigated by the North Yorkshire Police Professional Standards Department, if necessary these allegations will be investigated as a criminal matter.

Q7. 2 of the mentioned offences resulted in criminal convictions.

Q10. Of the above 12 misconduct matters, 6 of the victims were employed by a Police force.

Q11. All perpretrators were male, all victims were female.

Q12. I am exempting any information to this question pursuant to Section 40(2) - Personal Information of the act. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Exemption Explanation

Section 40 – Personal Information

I am exempting any information other than that which is detailed above pursuant to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

Where an individual can be identified by such data, including the victims in these cases, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

Section 31(1)(g) (2b) – Law Enforcement

Section 31 is a prejudice-based qualified exemption and there is a requirement to articulate the harm as well as carrying out a public interest test.

Evidence of Harm

As you may be aware, disclosure under FOIA is a release to the public at large. Whilst not questioning the motives of the applicant, releasing any information held regarding details of cases where investigations are/have taken place would prejudice a fair and just process in ascertaining whether any person is responsible for any conduct matter which is improper.

Factors favouring disclosure under Section 31

Releasing information would allow the public to have a better understanding of the types of complaints that are being made by the public or staff members.

Information would ensure transparency around such conduct matters.

Factors against disclosure under Section 31

It can be argued that there are risks associated with providing information in relation to conducts matters, as full details and accounts may not have fully been assessed in respect of truth /conduct. This in turn would affect the forces ability to carry out law enforcement as information could be used against Officers/ staff where there is no justification to do so, as cases may not be upheld.

Standards of Professional Behaviour are expected by the police and the public on how police officers should behave. As such there are already processes in place for disclosing such matters e.g. ‘ gross miscounts’ when certain cases have been held. Disclosing any other information may affect the public’s confidence in the police service and also affect those who may have been involved in the cases. As information is provided in confidence, to reveal such information would prejudice that sharing of information between the public/victim and the police.

Balance test

Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing misconducts, there is a very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police investigations in the highly sensitive matters. As such any disclosure of such information will only be overridden in exceptional circumstances. It is our opinion that for these issues the balancing test for exempting your request is not made out.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

I note that Q8 & Q9 have not been included in this response. This is because this part of your request would trigger an excess cost exemption. To ascertain if the officers involved in these alleged offences had a previous sexual offence allegation lodged against them would require extensive manual review of all misconduct data held by the force. This would include thousands of reports which would exceed the time limit allowed under the act. I have however, as a gesture of goodwill provided you with the information for the remaining questions.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.