South Wales Police apologises for officers' conduct

From myself to our front-line, officers of South Wales Police are shocked and feel deeply let down by the behaviour of these officers. Let us be in no doubt, we owe the women affected a sincere apology as the conduct of these officers fell well short of the standards I expect from South Wales Police.

A number of offensive and inappropriate emails and documents came to light which were prepared by Sergeant Jones and seen by Inspector Camm, who failed to challenge them. I have to make it clear that this is behaviour I simply don't recognise within South Wales Police.

We have examined thousands of emails to see if such behaviour was more common. Quite simply it is not and evidently, the vast majority of our 5,000 officers and staff know that there is absolutely no place for lewd and offensive communication and it will not be tolerated.

Everyone throughout South Wales Police knows the values and standards which are expected from them, we train them in these standards and on promotion. I tell every manager that they have an absolute duty to challenge inappropriate behaviour and conduct.

Sergeant Jones and Inspector Camm failed to act in the professional manner that I expect of my officers. Their dismissals show that we will always be robust when it comes to staff misconduct.

At the same time, every year our front-line staff and specialist teams support hundreds of victims of sexual offences. Leaders across the force are ensuring that we do our very best to protect vulnerable people and respond to their needs.