No misconduct action was taken on 96 per cent of complaints against Dyfed-Powys Police officers new figures reveal.

Home Office figures show there were 417 formal complaints about officers in Dyfed-Powys Police in the year to April 2021.

Of these, just five were referred to the official disciplinary process, launched when an officer is deemed to have a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct.

It meant just 1.7 per cent of all complaints led to misconduct proceedings, while no misconduct action was taken in 96 per cent of complaints.

A small number of allegations, involving actions that do not amount to misconduct but fall short of expectations of police behaviour, led to reflective review proceedings or performance reviews.

No police officers resigned or retired following the allegation made against them.

The complaints in 2020-21 involved 319 Dyfed-Powys police officers – an officer can be subject to more than one allegation and an allegation can involve multiple officers.

Dyfed-Powys figures also show there were 31 allegations of ‘conduct matter’ offences, where there is an indication a crime has been committed – involving 12 police officers.

There were also seven allegations against three officers for ‘recordable conduct’ matters, including those that caused serious harm or death, and allegations of sexual offences and corruption.

Some 21 conduct matters were referred to official proceedings, while no recordable conduct matters resulted in misconduct action.

Across England and Wales, 14,393 official complaints were made against police officers.

Only 1 per cent of these led to an official process to hear the case, while no action was taken in 92 per cent of grievances raised.

The Police Federation of England and Wales said most officers ‘come into the police service to protect the public and act with integrity and respect’.

Phill Matthews, conduct and performance lead at the Police Federation, condemned the behaviour of a small minority, which he said should not taint the police's reputation.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates the most serious police misconduct allegations, said an investigated case may not always lead to a finding of misconduct.

"There are a range of options including organisational or individual learning, providing an explanation, or providing an apology," a spokesperson added.

"These are all designed to have a range of options to resolve the complaint.

"Therefore, only the most serious cases will result in proceedings."