GLOUCESTERSHIRE police have been criticised by an independent watchdog.

The force has been rated ‘requires improvement’ in a legitimacy report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

They were urged to improve the way they address the risk of officers abusing their position for sexual gain.

In its report HMIC assessed how police forces keep people safe and reduce crime.

The same report highlighted the number of sexual abuse complaints police forces which was a total of 436 across the UK within the last 24 months.

Deputy chief constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary Rod Hansen said: “We are disappointed that Gloucestershire has been rated as ‘requiring improvement in this area, especially in light of the positive comments made in the report.

“We are pleased that HMIC has recognised the fact that we recently identified a police officer abusing his power for sexual gain, made the mandatary referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

“We then went onto investigate and successfully prosecute the individual, who is now spending 44 months in prison.

“We also took the extra step of making a public appeal to ensure we reach any other victims who hadn’t come forward.

“We would like to reassure people living, working and visiting Gloucestershire that we are keeping them safe.”

Out of the 43 police forces in the UK, Gloucestershire Constabulary, which was rated ‘good’ in the last year’s report, is one of five police forces that was rated ‘requires improvement’ today.

The other four are Cleveland, Dyfed-Powys, North Wales and South Yorkshire.

Gloucestershire’s police were told they have a well embedded ethical culture which identifies corruption risks, but must improve how it learns from previous incidents.

HMIC inspector Michael Cunningham said: “HMIC is concerned that forces do not always recognise the problem of abuse of authority for sexual gain as a form of serious corruption.

“This means that this understanding is not always being reflected in the force's IPCC referral decisions, and there is no clear picture of the scale of the problem throughout police forces.”