FOI reveals three police jailed

Forty five officers in Kent and Sussex were arrested over a 29-month period, according to figures obtained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Three officers, two from Kent and one from Sussex, were jailed between April 2006 and August 2008.

The data showed cases against 14 Sussex officers and 10 in Kent and were either dropped or those involved were cleared.

Both forces, which jointly employ nearly 7,000 officers, said they took the issue very seriously.

The FOI request by BBC South East revealed 23 Kent officers were arrested and eight were convicted of offences including, possession of a firearm, theft, perverting the course of justice, common assault and drink driving.

We will arrest officers and will deal with them vigorously

Allyn Thomas, of Kent Police

Four cases were still under investigation, two officers were cleared, eight were not prosecuted and one result was not known.

Following the arrests four officers resigned, two were dismissed and three received a reprimand or a fine. Kent Police said seven cases were still active.

Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas, of Kent Police, said: "We take these matters very seriously.

"We will arrest officers and will deal with them vigorously. We always welcome complaints from members of the public if there think officers are involved in any wrong doing but the overwhelming majority of officers never do anything wrong.

"These arrests represent less than half a percent of our officers over that period of time."

Sussex Police prides itself on the professionalism of its officers and treats any convictions received by them as extremely serious

Sussex Police

In Sussex, 22 officers were arrested and six were convicted of offences including theft, deception, drink driving and harassment.

Six officers resigned, including one over an allegation of sexual assault which is still being investigated.

In March former Det Ch Insp Peter Salkeld, 42, of Shoreham, was found guilty, after a five-week trial, of 11 charges relating to theft and deception.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Sussex Police prides itself on the professionalism of its officers and treats any convictions received by them as extremely serious.

"There are currently in excess of 3,000 serving officers and in the past eight years only eight officers have remained serving following any convictions."