GWENT Police has revealed how many misconduct allegations in the past three years have resulted in misconduct hearings.

Between June 2019 and May 2022, 99 misconduct cases have been investigated relating to the Gwent force area, 22 of which were in the first five months of 2022.

These figures, revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request, show 27 cases related to allegations of violence of against women and girls since January 2020 – out of 75 total misconduct investigations.

Gwent Police has since confirmed that 12 misconduct hearings were completed during the period covered by the figures released, relating to 10 officers and two police staff.

The most recent hearing – which saw two senior officers dismissed and another being told he would have been sacked had he not since retired – was not completed during that period, but takes the total up to 13 hearings involving 13 officers and two police staff.

Gwent Police did not provide further details on the outcomes of these hearings.

However, The College of Policing’s barred list shows that – between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2021, eight officers were dismissed from Gwent Police.

This does include April and May 2019 – which was outside the period of the FOI Act request – and does not give figures between April 1, 2021, and May 2022 – when the FOI Act request went up to.

Commenting on the figures from the FOI Act release, a Gwent Police spokesperson said: “Forces are required to formally record all conduct allegations when an allegation is made.

“Those will then be investigated fully by a dedicated team of sergeants and assessors will take place into this conduct and there are range of disciplinary options available.”

Following the misconduct investigation, and decision is made firstly over whether there is a case of misconduct or gross misconduct, and secondly whether the matter would be referred to proceedings.

“There are outcomes available to the appropriate authority; a gross misconduct hearing which will be held either publicly or privately,” said a police spokesperson.

“There are also misconduct meetings and a referral to the reflective practice review process or no further action – all of which are held in private.

“It is possible therefore, for a misconduct investigation to result in reflective practice review process for example, and why the number of hearings in comparison to the number of allegations is much lower than the number of investigations.

“It is only in the cases where the conduct of officers is so serious and incompatible with our professional standards of behaviour that a misconduct hearing be required.”