More than half of British police forces received almost 450 complaints from staff and members of the public about sexual harassment

Hundreds of British people were sexually harassed by male police officers over the past six years.

Iran Press/ Europe: The revelation was made in a report published by the Guardian on Tuesday, saying more than half of British police forces received almost 450 complaints from staff and members of the public about sexual harassment, including accusations against senior detectives and inspectors.

Julian Williams, chief constable and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for professional ethics, said sexual harassment must be rooted out.

The report said 24 police staff, including constables, community support officers, crime scene investigators, clerks and detention officers had been dismissed over harassment complaints and 74 faced management action.

A total of 48 staff members resigned or retired after a complaint had been lodged.

“This behavior has no place in the modern workplace. Neither staff nor the public should ever feel intimidated or degraded when dealing with the police. This goes against the very purpose of having police forces watching over and keeping communities safe,” Ben Priestley, a national police officer said.

The British newspaper also shed light on sexual harassment cases in uniformed services in the UK, such as the police, by referring to a Unison survey of almost 1,800 police staff in England, Wales and Scotland.

More than half of British police forces received almost 450 complaints from staff and members of the public about sexual harassment

The survey was reported to have found that half of the personnel had heard sexualized jokes and one in five had received a sexually explicit email or text from a colleague.

About one in 25 said they had been pressured to have sex, and one in 12 was told that sexual favors could result in preferential treatment, according to The Guardian.

Women account for 29.8 percent of the police establishment in England and Wales, with 6,463 holding the rank of sergeant or above.

Also Children are being sexually abused every eight minutes in England and Wales, according to new figures showing recorded offences at an all-time high.

Of almost 65,000 offences recorded in 2016-2017, around 200 were committed against babies less than a year old.

Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom has been reported in the country throughout its history. In about 90% of cases the abuser is a person known to the child. Around 23,000 cases were identified during 2012-2013.  101/201/211

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More than half of British police forces received almost 450 complaints from staff and members of the public about sexual harassment
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