The number of investigations into police officers alleged to have abused their position for sexual purposes is at a record level.

An inspection of the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI) found it had 19 active cases as of July 2024. Since then the number has risen to 24.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a crackdown on officers who misuse their powers was taking place.

Last year it sacked an officer for having sex with a vulnerable woman in Antrim while on duty.

The issue has been highlighted in a report by Criminal Justice Inspection (CJI), which stated there needed to be “timely consequences” for officer misconduct.

It discovered that complaints of malpractice were taking about 17 months to investigate on average.

Often, officers are suspended and remain on full pay.

“Minimising delay in the progress of investigations is key,” said Jacqui Durkin, from the CJI.

“Work by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to progress a legislative amendment to enable swifter disciplinary action to be taken by the PSNI, when and if appropriate, should be expedited.”

A DoJ spokesperson said it is “currently considering how provisions can be introduced to improve the police officer misconduct process, some of which may require amendment to primary legislation”.

The PSNI said it welcomed the report.

Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said: “The abuse of position by a serving police officer or staff member is totally unacceptable.

“It is not and will not be tolerated.

“Last year, we re-issued a service-wide statement of intent, which made explicit once again that there will be no tolerance for police officers and police staff who abuse their power.

“We will continue to work with OPONI and other criminal justice partners to crackdown on this type of behaviour within our organisation.”

Director of investigations at OPONI, Nikki Davis, said she was pleased the report backed its call for legislative change to enable cases to be fast-tracked.

She added that following OPONI investigations, six officers had been convicted or dismissed for abusing their role for sexual purposes since 2020.