News, Suffolk
Ben Parker/A woman was paid thousands of pounds in compensation after police officers moved her underwear and laughed at sex toys in her bedroom.
Suffolk Police searched her property in Essex in October 2023 as part of a drugs raid which saw one suspect arrested but eventually released without charge.
It prompted a complaint from the woman who felt she had been “disrespected” by three “very young” officers after they made jokes upon coming across a box containing sex toys.
An internal investigation found the officers’ behaviour was “unacceptable and unprofessional” and the complainant was paid £3,500 in compensation.
Suffolk Police stressed that, although a box containing sex toys was found and “subject to comment and laughter”, officers did not “touch or play with the items”.
It did, however, tell the that the underwear appeared to have been “moved in jest, without any thought given for the upset this could cause to the owner”.
The complaint was investigated by the Norfolk and Suffolk professional standards department, which said the officers’ actions were “more due to immaturity than spite”.
‘Behaviour not acceptable’
“It was noted that all the officers involved were very young in terms of service and still undergoing training,” a spokesperson for Suffolk Police said.
“The investigation deemed that whilst the behaviour was not acceptable, it did not require formal disciplinary action.
“One of the officers left the force prior to the complaint being received.
“The two officers who remained in service were required to undertake Reflective Practice”.
According to the force, this means the officers involved would have had a professional discussion with their manager.
They also would have been required to view and comment on bodycam footage and encouraged to “confront what they did and think about the impact of their behaviour”.
The police said the officers and the detective inspector who investigated the allegations apologised to the complainant both verbally and in writing.
