Apart from the Met, no police force in the county has had as many bad headlines in recent weeks about their officers' conduct as Norfolk. Tom Bristow reports.
One Norfolk officer is under investigation for being part of a Whatsapp group with the policeman who killed Sarah Everard, Wayne Couzens. That group allegedly shared vile content. Two other Norfolk officers have been jailed in the last month for child sexual offences.
However, in an interview with this newspaper today, Chief Constable Paul Sanford said huge strides had been made in the last two decades on police behaviour.
He also revealed that his officers were getting abuse from the public over what happened to Sarah Everard.
“We understand the frustration (from the public), we recognise policing has to improve," he said. "However, the overwhelming majority of police officers and staff come to work because they want to make their communities better and it is very difficult for them."
In October officer George Ince from Stalham was jailed for 16 months for offences including making and distributing an indecent image of a child.
Then on Thursday, former PC Neal Porter, from Watton, was imprisoned for two years for taking pictures on his mobile phone of sexual acts with a 14-year-old boy.
“Policing has to look at how people like Couzens, Porter and Ince don’t get anywhere near a uniform," chief constable Sanford admitted.
Asked how that can happen, he added: “It is really difficult. We have stopped 130 people joining us in the last couple of years, mainly for previous convictions, but that doesn’t tell you what someone is going to do in the future."
The force has a confidential reporting line which chief constable Sanford said officers were using.
“We have a workforce which doesn’t want this kind of behaviour,” he added. “I joined policing at the end of the 1990s and the culture has moved on immeasurably.”
28 complaints
Chief Constable Sanford stressed the Porter and Ince cases were very rare.
But these cases are just the worst examples of police behaviour.
Others are not serious enough to reach the courts and instead will be dealt with internally by the police's anti-corruption unit, known as the professional standards department (PSD).
Cases they investigate can be passed on to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) and misconduct hearings can be held which are also chaired by an independent person.
When it comes to sexual misconduct, 28 allegations were made against Norfolk police officers in the past five years, according to a Freedom of Information request. That includes complaints from their own staff and the public.
Of those, eight led to misconduct hearings and two resulted in the officers being dismissed. Another two officers resigned prior to misconduct hearings and would have been dismissed had they not resigned, police said.
Complaints included sexual harassment, inappropriate touching and comments.
One officer used the police computer systems to pursue a personal relationship. They resigned in 2019 before a misconduct hearing could be held.
Another had sex while on duty in 2018 and was given a final written warning.
One misconduct hearing was held in September for a former officer for inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague.
The officer was found to have breached the standards of professional behaviour, but no further action was taken since the officer had already retired.
The 28 allegations involve a very small proportion of staff with the Constabulary employing around 1500 officers.
And chief constable Sanford said some of the allegations were proven immediately to be false.
“The nature of policing is that sometimes people make allegations which are absolutely not true,” he said.
The man responsible for holding Norfolk Constabulary to account - police and crime commissioner Giles Orphen-Smellie - declined to be interviewed for this article.
But he said last month: “The horrific death of Sarah Everard has drawn attention not just to the despicable actions of one police officer, but to a small minority of police officers not adhering to the standard of policing expected.
“The vast majority of police officers have the best intentions of the public at heart but sadly get tarnished by the small minority."
Meanwhile, Suffolk Constabulary recorded 33 allegations of sexual misconduct or sexual assault in the same period resulting in one dismissal and one officer resigning prior to a misconduct hearing.
How does police misconduct process work?
Complaints about police misconduct are initially dealt with by the police force themselves. Each force has a professional standards department, usually referred to as PSD.
They can then refer the complaint to the national police watchdog, the IOPC. Some allegations will be automatically referred to the watchdog.
The IOPC will investigate it, alongside the police force, and decide if the officer has a case to answer. If they do then the police force the officer works for sets up a misconduct hearing which is chaired by an independent person.
Since 2015 these have been held in public, with the aim of making the process more transparent. Journalists can attend and often report on the hearing.
However, in some cases the misconduct panel will order that the officer’s name is not published.
The panel hears evidence from both sides and then decides if the case against the officer has been proven. If it has they will decide what the punishment should be, varying from dismissal, for the most serious offences, to training or written warnings.
-Additional reporting by Rachel Muir
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