Nearly 60 police officers arrested in West Mercia Police area in five years

In one third of the cases criminal charges were brought against the officers involved. They include offences of fraud, theft, making threats to kill and engaging in sexual activity with minors.

The West Mercia force area includes Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Today's figures relate to arrests made in the West Mercia area. Of 57 arrests made, 26 of the officers worked for the West Mercia force, with the 31 others a mix of officers who work for other forces including West Midlands Police, the Met and the Ministry of Defence.

Just nine of the 57 officers went on to get a criminal conviction, the figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed. None of those officers – seven of whom were constables and two sergeants – is still in post with the force.

Three of the convictions, both the sergeants and one of the constables, were for drink-driving. Two were charged with theft, while another went before a court for using abusive, threatening or insulting words and behaviour. The final three were charged with misconduct while in office, with one up for misuse of force computers.

West Mercia Police said no officers who had been charged with an offence since 2010 had resigned or retired prior to a trial. Civilian police staff and police community support officers are also not included.

It comes as FOI data reveals that nationally a police officer had been arrested on suspicion of criminal offences almost every day. A total of 1,629 officers were arrested over the past five years – one almost every 27 hours.

Almost a third were detained on suspicion of committing violent offences including assault, grievous bodily harm and manslaughter, according to data released by most of the 41 forces in England and Wales. More than 500 officers went on to be convicted, cautioned or punished for crimes ranging from rape, drug trafficking and sexual offences to fraud and traffic offences. Some received jail sentences.

Jacqui Cheer, of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: "The code of ethics is now well embedded across the service. When members of the service fall short of these standards, well established and rigorous processes are in place to ensure appropriate action is taken. If an officer is suspected of criminal activity, we act quickly to investigate as we want to ensure the service maintains the highest standards."