A TOTAL of 96 per cent of allegations made against police officers resulted in no action being taken - but four Barnsley-based PCs lost their jobs as a result of investigations into their wrongdoing.
Home Office figures show 3,086 misconduct allegations were made against South Yorkshire Police officers and handled under the formal complaints process in the year to March 2023 - significantly up from 2,305 the year before.
Of these, 3,054 were either not investigated, or investigated not subject to special procedures, with 2,940 - the equivalent of 96 per cent - resulting in no further action.
However PCs Isabella Handley, Paul Hinchcliffe, Nabeel Khan and Liam Mills were all found to have breached standards.
Handley was dismissed without notice after a panel found she had failed to tell officers she had links to three individuals who had links to criminality.
Hinchcliffe made sexually suggestive comments towards a woman at a pub, while also taking a photograph of her and showing it to other people, flicked beer foam from the top of his pint at her chest area, pulled her top down and took another photograph.
Khan was dealing drugs on Barnsley’s streets while Mills admitted two counts of misconduct in a public office and a data protection offence.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigates the most serious police misconduct allegations, said not all complaints relate to alleged misconduct but could simply be an expression of dissatisfaction, with no further action required.
A spokesperson said: “Changes to the complaints system, which included widening the definition of a complaint, have had the expected result of increasing the number of complaints recorded by force in recent years.
“The law also recognises that many complaints will not require a lengthy investigation and a range of options, such as organisational or individual learning, as well providing an explanation or apology, are available to resolve these.
“We continue to work with professional standards departments to help improve initial complaint handling, which will benefit both the police and the public.
“Complainants have a right of review into the handling of their complaint, which in the most serious cases would come to us.
“This ensures there is oversight of the system, and allows us to identify and address trends and themes in complaints handling where necessary.”
The figures show 26 ‘recordable conduct matter’ allegations were made against South Yorkshire Police officers, with ten referred to misconduct proceedings.
These are allegations indicating an officer may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a way that would justify disciplinary proceedings.
Detective Superintendent Delphine Waring, head of the force’s professional standards department, told the Chronicle: “As always the integrity of any police force is based on the honesty of those within it and their actions while serving their communities.
“As a force we remain committed to upholding high professional standards and any reports which allege breaches of those standards will be robustly looked into.”
