Police officers in Britain are arresting one of their own every day on suspicion of rape, drug trafficking and fraud offenses, according to data from 43 police forces across England and Wales.
In the last five years, 1,629 police officers in the UK were arrested for criminal offences – 500 of which were convicted or suspended from duty.
Some of these constables were also found to have committed manslaughter, indecent assault and grievous bodily harm.
Figures show London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has the highest number of police arrests in the country, as 781 of its officers were taken into custody and 146 convicted or cautioned.
Meanwhile, 43 out of 3,000 Lancashire police officers were found to have been convicted or cautioned.
Devon and Cornwall had the highest numbers of cops arrested for fraud, while 19 officers in Kent were arrested for violent offenses.
In 2012, 50 police officers were arrested as part of a national crackdown on suspected pedophiles in the force.
The College of Policing was reportedly meant to publish these statistics on police conduct, but had failed to do so.
According to the International Business Times, the chair of the home affairs select committee, Keith Vaz, hopes to raise the findings with Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.
Jaqui Cheer of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) told the Sunday Times the NPCC acts “quickly” to investigate officers suspected of breaching the law.
“If an officer is suspected of criminal activity, we act quickly to investigate as we want to ensure the service maintains the highest standards of integrity and conduct,” she told the paper.
“The code of ethics is now well embedded across the service ... When members of the service fall short of these standards, well-established and rigorous processes are in place to ensure appropriate action is taken,” she added.
Last week, an officer serving in Birmingham was one of the three men arrested in connection with a “malicious” plot to kidnap a policeman in a terror-related hoax.