Rise in criminal charges brought against police officers, figures show

The number of criminal charges brought against police officers in Wales and England has risen by 42% in the last year, figures show.

Police officers were facing 323 charges in court in the year to March 2025, up from 227 in 2023/24 and 160 in 2022/23, the first year for which data is available.

Home Office figures show the criminal proceedings were in relation to 189 police officers, who made up 0.1% of the police workforce as of the end of March 2024.

Sexual offences accounted for the largest number of 85 allegations in court, making up 26% of proceedings, followed by 78 “other” and 54 “traffic” offences making up 24% and 17% respectively.

Of all criminal charges where an outcome was known, 113 officers (67%) were found or pleaded guilty and 36 officers (21%) were acquitted.

Elsewhere data published on Thursday also showed an increase in the number of police officers referred to misconduct proceedings.

Some 1,687 police officers were referred to misconduct proceedings, up 29% from 1,312 referrals in the previous year.

The majority resulted in a finding of misconduct or gross misconduct in their cases, some 1,369 officers, making up 81%.

According to the Home Office, some forces reported that events in the lead-up to March 2025 influenced the level of scrutiny and willingness of people to come forward over allegations, such as the Angiolini Inquiry into the murder of Sarah Everard by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens.

Ministers have tightened rules on standards in efforts to improve confidence in policing, including for officers who fail background checks and commit gross misconduct to be sacked.