Over 50 percent of the government’s elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) have been accused of misconduct and subsequently probed by the state’s policing watchdog, new figures reveal.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has investigated “44 referrals from police and crime commissioners” relating to potential impropriety on behalf of 23 separate police chiefs, a spokesman for the body said on Monday.

This figure amounts to more than half of the 41 PCCS who were officially elected in November 2012, he told RT.

Following the wave of allegations, a specially-appointed parliamentary committee will hold an inquiry into the high frequency of complaints amid growing concern that PCCs can only be removed from their posts via the ballot box.

Britain’s most senior crime chiefs have been party to multiple controversies of late, the most contentious of which culminated in the resignation of South Yorkshire PCC Shaun Wright, following a prolonged period of public and political pressure.

The IPCC is currently assessing a complaint regarding Wright’s alleged awareness of child sexual exploitation, which occurred while he served as a councilor in Rotherham. The watchdog’s announcement on whether an official investigation is required is expected to transpire shortly.

Wright served as the cabinet member who presided over child services at Rotherham between 2005 and 2010 – in the midst of a 16-year period during which children in the region suffered widespread trafficking, grooming, sexual abuse and gang rape. Yet despite repeated warnings of child sex abuse in the area, he reportedly failed to intervene.

Read the full story at http://rt.com/uk/210355-police-misconduct-figures-watchdog/