No police sacked over Rotherham abuse scandal sends message 'it's okay to do your job badly,' says solicitor

‘Without sanction for police failures on child sexual abuse allegations the system isn’t protecting the public from paedophiles’

Dubbed ‘Operation Linden,’ The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published its long-awaited report into South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) handling of allegations of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the town between 1997 and 2013 on Wednesday, June 22.

The report, costing £6 milllion, comes eight years after the bombshell report from Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 which concluded that failures by police and politicians contributed to the sexual exploitation of around 1,400 children in Rotherham by groups of men in the town, predominately of Pakistani heritage.

It concluded the force made ‘significant’ and 'systemic’ failures in its handling of allegations and information concerning CSE in the town.

The conduct of 47 officers was investigated as part of Operation Linden, but to date, not a single SYP officer has lost their job as a result of what the IOPC found to be ‘systemic’ and ‘significant’ failings in the way in which SYP handled Rotherham CSA/E over a 16-year period.

David Greenwood, director, solicitor and head of child abuse department at Switalskis Solicitors, says he has spoken to two CSE survivors, following the report’s publication, who lost confidence in the police and ‘the system’ long ago – neither of whom are surprised that no officers have lost their job.

Mr Greenwood said: "The women I speak to are cynical about the capacity of a service run by men to protect vulnerable children. They see the system as being against them so I doubt whether their confidence will ever be regained."

He added: "Survivors want to know police won’t ignore signs of CSE in the future. The fact that the police complaints system applied rigorously by the IOPC has resulted in no dismissals means no progress has been made. Only a fraction of the 1400 identified by Prof Alexis Jay came forward. It’s not surprising that the women I speak to think the system doesn’t take them seriously.""It also sends a message to officers throughout the country that “it’s okay to do your job badly – you won’t lose your job”. Without sanction for police failures on child sexual abuse allegations the system isn’t protecting the public from paedophiles."

‘South Yorkshire Police took action against officers with a case to answer without exception’

Responding to Mr Greenwood’s comments, a spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “We fully accept the findings of the IOPC in Operation Linden and where the IOPC concluded there was a case to answer, South Yorkshire Police took action against those officers without exception. South Yorkshire Police fully adhered to the requirements of the Police Act 1996 and the acts relevant at the time."

"Where there are complaints about a police force of this severity it is essential that any investigation into those complaints is carried out independently of the force as this should bring a degree of confidence to any subsequent findings.

"Had South Yorkshire Police investigated itself or asked a neighbouring force to carry out this investigation, there would rightly have been a public outcry. It is the role of the IOPC, as an independent body, to investigate the force and make recommendations. We have accepted all of the recommendations and have actioned those in full," they continued.

The spokesperson also noted that SYP is currently led by a female chief constable and of the six members of the senior command team including the chief constable, three of these are women. Two of our four district commanders are also women and the head of professional standards is also a woman.

‘Police Reform Act 2002 is elephant in the room’

When asked whether it was time for someone at the force to lose their job over the failings in the wake of the report, SYP’s Deputy Chief Constable Tim Forber said on Wednesday: “It’s for the IOPC to determine accountability, not SYP. And where there have been, and there have been two gross misconduct hearings held, those hearings, the outcome of those hearings, and the sanction was determined by an independently-qualified chair. So while I do understand victims’ perspective, and absolutely I do understand it, it’s a matter for the IOPC, not SYP.”

Responding to DCC Forber’s comments, Mr Greenwood added: “He says it's up to the IOPC to police SYP. He’s wrong. The Police Reform Act 2002 enables the force to rule on complaints, whether to escalate them through the complaints procedures, or accept them out of time etc. Most complaints are handled and investigated – and quashed – by the force."The Police Reform Act 2002 is the elephant in the room here. It enables forces to investigate and rule on complaints themselves. Even when complaints are referred to an adjudication panel their composition is not independent (Superintendents are part of the determination process).""Mr Forber defends individuals but these were easy crimes to spot and investigate. Rape and trafficking are not rocket science to pursue. Many individuals simply ignored obvious offences. These officers should have been disciplined. Why ? Because an example needs to be set so future officers know how seriously these crimes should be treated. We need to remember failures to investigate lead to more children being raped.”

‘Misconduct hearings can now be held in some cases when officers have retired’

The SYP spokesperson continued: “As part of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2012 (relevant regs for the two public hearings), the Force held a misconduct hearing chaired by an independent legally qualified chair. The attendance of a Superintendent, as set out in Home Office guidance, is in order to provide the Chairperson with context in relation to Operational Policing. The two Gross Misconduct hearings held in response to Operation Linden were held in public and attended by members of the media.”

IOPC director of major investigations Seve Noonan added: “The police complaints system is much changed compared to 2014, when Operation Linden began. Crucially, misconduct hearings can now be held in some cases where an officer has retired.

“Subsequent reform in 2020, which we called for, brought about significant changes aimed at making the system more transparent, more independent and less bureaucratic.”

He added: “Since the start of Op Linden, the survivors we have spoken to have made it clear one of the things they most want is to see meaningful changes to policing that mean other people don’t have to suffer in the way they did.

“It has always been our aim to look collectively at these investigations to identify common themes and issues that need to be addressed at an organisational – or even national – level to ensure this happens.

“Where individual failings were identified they have been addressed but the IOPC is not judge and jury. Our role is to investigate and provide an opinion and in this case we found 14 individuals had a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct. We do not make the decision on sanctions.

“A key focus has been on identifying systemic issues, so when these failings begin to form a pattern, we need to be looking at the failures of leadership that allowed this to happen.

“Our report exposes those shortcomings and we have made a series of recommendations we now hope will bring about the real and lasting changes survivors have been waiting to see.”