World News | Scotland Yard Officers Getting Away with Breaking Law, Review Finds
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Officers of Britain's largest police force, the Metropolitan Police or Scotland Yard, have been getting away with breaking the law as sexual misconduct, misogyny, racism and homophobia allegations against them are mishandled, a new report found on Monday.
London, Oct 17 (PTI) Officers of Britain's largest police force, the Metropolitan Police or Scotland Yard, have been getting away with breaking the law as sexual misconduct, misogyny, racism and homophobia allegations against them are mishandled, a new report found on Monday.
The review by Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned earlier this year in the wake of the murder of London professional Sarah Everard, who was sexually assaulted and murdered on her way home by a Met Police officer.
It found that 1,263 Met Police staff were involved in two or more disciplinary cases, more than 500 were involved in three to five, and 41 were involved in six or more.
“Based on this report, which clearly says that we have been far too soft, there must be hundreds in the organisation I need to get rid of," said Sir Mark Rowley, Met Police Commissioner, in response to the findings.
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"Some of them are unethical and don't deserve to be a cop and don't deserve to wear the uniform. And some of what they're doing is in many cases criminal," he said.
Casey's review also found the Met Police's internal misconduct system slow and ineffective, with cases taking an average 400 days to resolve, and said too many repeat offenders were being allowed to keep their jobs. She also found worrying racial disparity within the system.
"The evidence around racial disparity in the Metropolitan Police's misconduct system is so great, and so shocking, that even in 2021 81 per cent of black staff and officers are more likely to be in the misconduct system than their white counterparts is truly awful," said Casey in the interim report of her review.
"What I'm saying is the internal misconduct system is an example of what I would call institutional racism," she said.
In an official letter to Rowley, she pointed out that the police force's independent misconduct system is not delivering the desired outcomes.
"The evidence is clear: the disproportionate way in which you have showed us black and Asian officers and staff have been treated shows patterns of unacceptable discrimination that clearly amount to systemic bias,” Rowley replied.
"The fact that allegations of racism or sexual misconduct and misogyny have less chance of being upheld is also completely unacceptable. Furthermore, it is clear that the Met's systems and processes don't support the right outcomes,” he said.
Casey's complete review is expected to be published next year and meanwhile, the Met Police chief has promised action.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is in charge of police and security issues, welcomed the review as a way to address underlying concerns.
“The public rightly expects the highest standards of behaviour from police officers and the vast majority meet this expectation. But recently too many high-profile incidents and reports, especially in London, have damaged trust. This cannot continue,” said Braverman.
“It's unfair on the public and lets down other serving officers. Culture and standards in the police must improve. And where an officer has fallen seriously short of these expectations, demonstrable, public action must be taken,” she said.
The minister called on the Met Police to restore trust and return to “common sense policing”, treating the public and victims with respect.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)