Police sexual misconduct allegations more than double in two years, Sky News finds

A Sky News investigation has found that sexual misconduct allegations against police officers in England and Wales more than doubled in two years. The number rose from 574 to 1,239. Jason Farrell, Sky News home editor, led an analysis of cases in every force.

Sky News reported that the number of complaints and proven cases was highest in rural areas. Forces covering rural areas had much higher rates once force size was taken into account, with 13 of the top 15 and the Metropolitan Police below average. In Cambridgeshire, hearings involving sexual misconduct were at nearly double the national rate. From January 2022 to September 2026, more than half of hearings against officers in the force involved sexual misconduct, the highest proportion of any force in England and Wales. The investigation described officers seeing opportunities to visit women at particularly vulnerable points.

Molly, a woman in Cambridgeshire, said she was taken advantage of by the officer she went to for help about her own abuse. A friend advised her to speak to a police officer after she confided that she had been a victim of group-based sexual abuse. The male officer was part of their social circle. She said he told her that people outside the police were 'very emotional about these things and probably aren't the best people to speak to'. Over several meetings she disclosed the trauma of her abuse. She said he made advances, and that after they walked up a secluded hill while he was on duty things turned sexual. She said she did not give the impression that was what she wanted. She said he told her he was 'the police officer in uniform'. Molly said she later asked why no one questioned or checked what he was doing. She said she was told it was because he was a senior trusted officer.

Cambridgeshire police said it takes all allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously and will investigate them thoroughly. Sky News said its full report reveals details about the officer involved and examines what happened when the case went to a misconduct hearing.

Dame Vera Baird, former victims' commissioner for England and Wales and chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, told Sky News the figures were appalling. She said they showed a complete failure by senior officers in multiple forces to grasp the importance of the issue. She criticised police screening and said forces did not keep out predatory men. She said it was wrong to send a male officer to a woman who had complained of sexual assault when a female officer could go. If that was impossible, she said, there should be a protocol for the male officer to call in a woman quickly and for any breach to be examined.

She said sexual misconduct was treated as less serious than other crimes and other misbehaviour with women. She warned this could deter women from reporting rape and sexual assault and damage trust in the police. Asked about the rural gap, Dame Vera Baird said small forces in non-urban areas often contain families and are inward-looking. It can be harder to make a complaint when officers know each other, she said, and complaints may be dismissed as 'banter'.