Police received more than 14,000 public complaints about officers in year – but only 1% led to proceedings

Annual figures come as Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick charged with 21 rapes to face trial

The Home Office has released annual police misconduct figures for England and Wales (Getty Images)

Police received more than 14,000 complaints from the public about officers in the space of a year – but only 1 per cent led to proceedings.

Official figures released by the Home Office show police forces in England and Wales received a total of 14,393 public complaints against officers in the year up to 31 March 2021.

No action was taken against police officers in 92 per cent of these cases, while only 1 per cent were referred to proceedings.

The annual statistics also reveal there were 3,584 conduct allegations raised against police officers and 1,196 allegations against police staff in the same period.

For conduct matters against police officers, about half of allegations (49 per cent) resulted in no case to answer, and the other half (49 per cent) resulted in a case to answer.

A small number of allegations (2 per cent) were discontinued where an investigation into a recordable conduct matter was suspended.

For conduct matters against police staff, in 37 per cent of the allegations there was no case to answer and in 59 per cent of allegations there was a case to answer.

Four per cent of allegations were discontinued and in a small number the result was not known.

A further 940 allegations were made against police officers involving recordable conduct matters – which must be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

This is a distinct category which includes conduct which appears to have resulted in the death or serious injury of a person; has had an adverse effect on a member of the public; or involves serious assaults, sexual offences and corruption.

Of the allegations involved in recordable conduct matters against police officers, 33 per cent were referred to proceedings.

The annual statistics come following a string of high-profile misconduct cases, including a police constable charged with 21 counts of rape, two married officers who ignored emergency calls to have sex on duty and another officer who secretly filmed a woman while she tried on clothes.

Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick is set to go on trial in February charged with 44 offences against 12 women, including sexual assault, rape, and coercive and controlling behaviour.

The PC was attached to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PADP) command – the same unit as Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens – prior to his suspension from the London force following his arrest.

Nicholas Taylor, an ex-detective at West Midlands Police, was last week found guilty of gross misconduct after selling sexual services to strangers via an adult website, including threesomes at an hourly rate of £150.

And earlier in May former south Wales Police PC Abubakar Masum, 24, was jailed for more than three years after falsely telling Crimestoppers his ex-girlfriend had shot dead an Albanian gangster after the university student ended their relationship.

On Wednesday, the same day the figures were released, the Met revealed misconduct had been proven against PC Swaleh Chaudhry, who was caught filming a woman as she changed in a Primark fitting room in March.

Police later found more than 1,000 images of children being sexually abused on the former officer’s phone.

A woman recently told The Independent how she was left feeling like “prey” after a Met Police officer sent her sexual messages while subjecting her to a “relentless campaign” of grooming after being called to her home for a welfare check.

The accusations only came to light after PC Phil Hunter was investigated in a case of gross misconduct for having a sexual relationship with a different woman, whose home he was sent to after her brother killed himself.