MORE than 15 sexual assault claims were made against serving North Yorkshire police officers over five years.

A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that 18 sexual assault claims were made against North Yorkshire Police officers between 2016 and 2020.

North Yorkshire Police did not specify the age, sex and rank of the officers accused.

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They also did not disclose how many accusations were made against each officer.

12 of the complaints were made by the public and six of the complaints were made by staff.

One of the claims in 2016 resulted in a meeting, two of the claims in 2017 lead to no action whereas one of the claims resulted in a dismissal.

One of the claims in 2018 resulted in a dismissal, one of the claims resulted in management action, and two claims resulted in no action at all.

Two claims in 2019 resulted in no action and two claims in 2020 resulted in no action as well.

One claim in 2020 resulted in the officer retiring.

The data does not specify if the officers were on or off duty at the time the alleged incidents occurred.

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The sex of the person making the claim was also not specified within the data.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police, said: "It is vitally important that everyone has confidence in the police service to deal with these extremely serious matters with the utmost professionalism and sensitivity.”

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