London, Jan 30 (IANS) At least three police officers in Britain are thrown out of the force every week for misconduct such as sexual assault, discriminatory behaviour and rudeness, official figures from the Home Office say.
A total of 172 policemen lost their jobs because of misconduct over the past 12 months as the number of complaints against officers reached 60,000, the Daily Express reported.
Figures from the Independent Police Complaints Commission showed that allegations of rudeness, corruption, assault and malpractice are also being lodged at the rate of 160 per day.
Last year, there were 134 complaints of sexual assault, 1,476 of discriminatory behaviour, 480 for corruption and nearly 11,000 for rudeness.
London’s Metropolitan Police got rid of 39 officers for not doing their job properly or gross misconduct.
The Derbyshire constabulary threw out 10 officers, the West Midlands force got rid of nine, while South Wales, Northumbria and Lancashire each sacked eight officers.
Constable Robert Nicholson was sacked from Scotland Yard after he was found to be having an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl who lived in a care home.
A 46-year-old chief inspector was fired from the Metropolitan Police after being found guilty of boasting of drug-taking and sex acts on a dating website he used to look for women who wanted sex with a man in uniform.
Sergeant Darren Towers, also an amateur bodybuilder, was sacked from the Northumbria police after he admitted taking steroids.
A 58-year-old constable was fired for mishandling emergency calls. He failed to respond to reports of domestic abuse, rape, break-ins, suicide threats and accidents.
Five officers from an elite gun-crime unit were fired after a photograph showed them behaving inappropriately during a raid on a suspect’s home.
Some officers were also charged with taking items from raided homes and selling them on shopping website eBay.