Nine Wiltshire police officers are currently suspended from duty with full pay.
All of the officers facing misconduct probes are at the rank of police constable – and continue to collect their salaries despite being removed from their roles.
Some of the allegations made against the PCs – who make up nearly one per cent of warranted officers at the force – include sexual conduct, off duty conduct, driving offences and the use of force.
An officer suspended in June 2022 remains under investigation, meaning they will have been pay more than a year’s wage without contributing to policing.
The other eight officers were all suspended this year – one in January, one in March, one in April, three in May, one in June and another in July.
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said that national legislation and police regulations dictate whether or not officers are suspended with pay.
Continuing, they added: “With regards to the length of time it can take for gross misconduct hearings to take place, there are a number of elements to this. These include;
“Where there is a criminal investigation, this takes precedence and the misconduct process pauses. An early misconduct assessment will take place, and start the conduct and suspension timeline, but cannot progress further until the criminal justice process has concluded.
“Gross misconduct hearings for police officers are chaired by independent legally qualified chairs, therefore hearings take place based on the LQC’s availability.
“Clearly there is also a resource implication regarding how quickly cases can be progressed by our Professional Standards Department.
“The onus and ethos of the misconduct system is that these matters should be expedited as quickly as possible for the benefit of both the public and the officers concerned. However time is also required to ensure due process and due diligence is followed.”
