GWENT Police has said it is “wholly compliant” with guidelines for vetting officers after the Home Office ordered police forces to further check their officers.

In the wake of the David Carrick case, police forces across England and Wales have been asked to conduct further checks of their officers and staff against national police databases.

Serving Metropolitan Police officer Carrick was officially sacked from the force on Tuesday after he was found to have committed gross misconduct after admitting 49 criminal charges, including 24 counts of rape against 12 women over an 18-year period.  

National Police Chiefs’ Council chairman Martin Hewitt said: “The confidence of women and girls in London and across the country in the police has been damaged further by the details of David Carrick’s decades long violent and degrading abuse of women and the police failures to spot and stop him.

“Chief constables are rooting abusers and those who betray our standards out of policing. 

“We will be asking all police forces to further check their officers and staff against national police databases.  

“This will help identify anyone who has slipped through the net before vetting standards were toughened and remove those who are unfit to serve. 

“We are currently working through the detail of how this can best be achieved across policing.”

The Argus asked Gwent Police whether or not it already checks its officers and staff against national police databases.

A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: “We’re wholly compliant with the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) Vetting. 

“APP Vetting is national guidance.”

Under the APP Vetting guidance, all newly-recruited police officers, police staff, and special constables have a minimum level of checks which need to take place.

The applicant, their partner, all members of their family aged 10 and over, associates and co-residents are all checked against the police national computer, all force databases (including non-conviction databases), the Counter Terrorism Unit, and the police national database, as well as “other force checks”.

The applicant is subject to a record management system check, and checks are made for crime report allegations, voter records, of a vetting database, a credit reference check and of their financial position, and a search engine and social network check. There could also be professional standards checks, Ministry of Defence checks, ACRO Criminal Records Office checks, and a counter terrorist check.

Recruitment vetting, counter terrorist checks, and security checks for police personnel need to be renewed after 10 years, while management vetting and developed vetting has to be renewed every seven years.