Record 757 police officers are sacked and barred from policing, with dishonesty, sex offences and racist WhatsApp groups among the reasons

A record 757 officers in England and Wales were added to the police barred list in the year to March 2026, up from 735 the previous year and more than double the annual average of the preceding four years. The College of Policing confirmed this is the highest annual total recorded since the barred list's introduction in December 2017, with 3,591 officers permanently banned over that period in total.

Dishonesty was the most common reason for dismissal, accounting for 142 officers, while 87 were sacked for sexual offences including five for rape.

West Midlands Police was among the forces with the highest number of banned officers, while Merseyside saw 21 barred — a slight fall on its previous year's figure of 27.