I met him with a police officer to appear in court on charges of sexual assault

A serving Metropolitan Police officer is to appear in court charged with a sex offence. Detective Constable Jose Poonsawat, from the Central South Command Unit, is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Friday, July 12, charged with sexual assault.

This relates to an incident while the officer was off duty on December 16, 2022. The officer is currently on limited duties.

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According to a March 2023 freedom of information request, a total of 572 officers and staff faced allegations of domestic abuse, sexual offenses including rape, sexual assault or any form of child sexual abuse.

This also included abusive behaviour, either sexual or domestic, which does not amount to potential criminality but may be considered misconduct under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020, Schedule 2, Standards of Professional Conduct.

In the Central South Command Unit in Poonsawat, there were 30 officers or staff facing such charges in March 2023. This was not the worst, however, with the Central West Command having a total of 47 of these types of charges.

They did not necessarily go to court on these charges or face criminal charges as outlined above.

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