60 police officer misconduct cases in a single year. To protect and serve?

The words "To Protect & Serve" represent one of the most recognisable ideals of modern policing. The overwhelming majority of police officers go to work every day to protect the public with professionalism and integrity.

But Greater Manchester Police's own published misconduct records reveal another side of policing that deserves public scrutiny.

An analysis by Rochdale Daily of GMP's published quarterly misconduct outcome reports found 60 police officer misconduct case entries during 2025.

Those cases involved allegations ranging from criminal convictions and violence to discriminatory behaviour, misuse of confidential police systems and failures to investigate serious offences.

Among the allegations recorded by GMP were: assault occasioning actual bodily harm; drink-driving convictions; positive drug tests, including cocaine; sexual assault; domestic abuse and coercive control allegations considered through misconduct proceedings; criminal damage; misuse of police computer systems; racist, misogynistic, homophobic and discriminatory messages; sexual harassment of colleagues; inappropriate contact with vulnerable members of the public; failures to investigate allegations of rape; and breaches of police business interest regulations.

The outcomes were equally striking.

Of the 60 officer misconduct case entries reviewed, 19 resulted in dismissal without notice. A further 22 resulted in findings that the officer would have been dismissed had they still been serving with Greater Manchester Police. Six resulted in final written warnings, five in written warnings, and two allegations were not proven. The remaining cases resulted in other disciplinary outcomes, including practice improvement or findings below the threshold for gross misconduct.

In other words, 41 of the 60 cases resulted in either dismissal or a finding that dismissal would have been the outcome had the officer remained in service.

Every misconduct case has its own facts and circumstances, and misconduct proceedings are separate from criminal court proceedings. Some officers had already resigned or retired before their hearings concluded, which is why some outcomes are recorded as "would have been dismissed."

It is also important to recognise that Greater Manchester Police employs thousands of officers. The misconduct cases published during 2025 represent a small proportion of the overall workforce, and the published reports do not suggest that misconduct is typical of policing within the force.

Nevertheless, policing relies on public confidence. Every misconduct finding, particularly those involving violence, dishonesty, discrimination, abuse of authority or failures to investigate serious crime, has the potential to undermine that trust.

Transparency matters.

That is why Rochdale Daily has launched Police Watch, an ongoing series examining police accountability using official records, misconduct decisions, court judgments, Freedom of Information responses and reports from independent oversight bodies.

This investigation is not about attacking policing. It is about ensuring that the public can see how misconduct is identified, investigated and dealt with when officers fall below the standards expected of them.

Methodology: This analysis is based on Greater Manchester Police's published quarterly misconduct outcome reports covering January to December 2025. The figure of 60 refers to police officer misconduct case entries published by GMP. Police staff cases were excluded from the analysis. Because some published cases are anonymised, the reports do not always allow confirmation that every entry relates to a different individual, and therefore the figure should be understood as the number of recorded officer misconduct cases rather than confirmed unique officers.

Sources: Greater Manchester Police's official published misconduct outcome reports - GMP Misconduct Outcomes, January to March 2025; April to June 2025; July to September 2025; and October to December 2025.