They portray a toxic culture within the force and action must be taken.

Those who seek to abuse power are attracted to positions of trust and authority. Police officers wield enormous power over our lives, including the power to arrest and detain us.

It is no surprise therefore that the police attracts individuals who would abuse that power for their selfish purposes.

We have seen evidence of the toxic culture in the Met exposed in recent months and years. This investigation shows it is not limited to the Met, but is found in our own local Gwent force too.

There are, of course, many good officers. Most of those who join the police do so to serve the public and they can be proud of that vital work.

But we can no longer pretend this problem is not here in our local force, in our community.

To build trust, you first need transparency. Sadly, that has been lacking in Gwent Police.

Allegations of gross misconduct were recently found proven against three senior officers which stemmed from an incident at a leaving party and the cover-up that followed, resulting in two being fired, the third having already retired.

The misconduct hearing was held behind closed doors. This was justified on grounds of protecting victims or witnesses.

Whether or not that was the true motive, if the hearing had been held in public it would have exposed the culture at Gwent Police to scrutiny.

Instead, we were denied that opportunity.

Chief Constable Pam Kelly joined Gwent Police in 2017 and had led it since 2019. Some of these allegations will be from before she led the force. She is widely liked among stakeholders in the community. But she has been in charge for three years now and must own both the problem and the solution.

The chief constable must make it clear that people who hold such views have no place within the force.

And she should commit to misconduct hearings being held in public in future. It might be painful in the short-term but transparency is essential to rebuild trust.

How can we have faith that the force is acting in our interests, if such behaviour kept hidden and only revealed thanks to the dogged work of journalists?

Policing in the UK is carried out with consent. The chief constable must make Gwent Police more open and transparent if she is to keep that consent intact.