Hearings behind closed doors lead to 160 police officers being sacked every year

Around 160 police officers are being sacked every year after secret disciplinary meetings, it has been revealed.

There also appears to be inconsistencies between the UK's 52 forces with some officers being given harsher forms of discipline than others.

In the seven years since powers were given to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to order public hearings, only one has actually been held.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell, left, is facing a disciplinary hearing in private while PC Simon Harwood's will be in public

This is despite officers being hauled before panels for offences such as being drunk while armed, carrying out criminal activity, perverting the course of justice and confidential information.

Some officers have to wait several years before the disciplinary action is taken, many on full pay, costing the taxpayer an estimated £2.7 million a year.

In Hertfordshire a worker who directed obscene gestures and derogatory remarks towards a colleague was demoted while a counterpart in Kent was given just a written warning after telling a racist joke.

Steve Evans from the Police Federation's professional standards committee said: 'I know which forces I'd rather be in if I was in trouble.

'What is gross misconduct, and therefore a sacking offence in Derby might be simple misconduct in Nottingham.'

In another case a Grampian police officer was suspended for five years before his case was heard and a Nottinghamshire detective was fined four years after he was put on 'restricted duties' for disobeying orders.

Over a three year period 477 officers were sacked, but there appeared to be inconsistencies with some people being disciplined much more heavily in different forces, according to the Times.

Despite the 2004 powers granted to IPCC, only the second ever public tribunal has been called. The case will be that of the Metropolitan Police force's Simon Harwood who pushed newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson to the ground minutes before he died

An inquest into the death of Mr Tomlinson during the 2009 G20 protests found that he was unlawfully killed.

In another case an officer from Durham was recorded as carrying out the criminal offence of 'common assault' was handed a caution while two officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland were sacked after they were found to be drunk while on duty and in possession of firearms. 

Len Jackson, chairman of the IPCC said: 'This is a genuine issue that does not tax the commission. It's not easy but we are conscious that it is something we should be looking at all the time.

Over the last three years, the Metropolitan Police Force sacked 78 officers out of 151 charged and the remaining 61 were punished with 12 acquitted.

Across the country 1,303 officers were charged with offences of one kind or another and 1,155 were found guilty at the secret hearings.

One of the UK's top police officers could be sacked over allegations he unfairly helped family members during a recruitment drive.

The hearing of Grahame Maxwell, of North Yorkshire Police, is the first UK Chief Constable in 35 years to face a disciplinary hearing - which will take place in private for reasons not given by the IPCC - and could lose his £133,000-a-year job if found guilty of gross misconduct.

The charge follows an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into North Yorkshire Police's drive to fill 60 vacancies in February last year.

Applications forms were only being made available to the first 1,000 suitable candidates, although the force received 350,000 calls in the week the phone line was open.

It is alleged that the chief constable phoned one of his relatives, who was trying to apply, after a hotline crashed because of demand from thousands of potential candidates.

Two other members of the force have already lost their jobs over the case.

9th May 2011