Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

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Fishnut
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Fri Nov 11, 2022 10:15 pm

I don't think we've had this yet, though it's almost a month old. The Metropolitan Police has a new specialist unit that is investigating more than 600 domestic and sexual abuse allegations against its own officers.
Since [the Domestic and Sexual Offences Unit] was established in January, the team's caseload has grown to 625 allegations of sexual or domestic abuse against officers or police staff.

Sometimes the victims they are trying to protect from rogue police officers are members of the public, but sometimes they are other police officers. A significant number of cases involve domestic abuse situations where a couple are both in the police.
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:06 pm

The Met is under pressure to not rehire retired officers who've had misconduct proceedings against themselves.
Under a scheme to rehire recently retired officers to help plug gaps in the ranks of Britain’s largest force, 253 people who had action taken against them after misconduct proceedings have been asked to rejoin, along with 99 who retired while under investigation.
The Met has put out the standard line that officers have to pass checks before they're allowed back, yet their vetting has hardly been rigorous in the past. And why are they even asking back officers who've been found guilty of misconduct?
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Woodchopper » Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:54 am

Fishnut wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:06 pm
The Met is under pressure to not rehire retired officers who've had misconduct proceedings against themselves.
Under a scheme to rehire recently retired officers to help plug gaps in the ranks of Britain’s largest force, 253 people who had action taken against them after misconduct proceedings have been asked to rejoin, along with 99 who retired while under investigation.
The Met has put out the standard line that officers have to pass checks before they're allowed back, yet their vetting has hardly been rigorous in the past. And why are they even asking back officers who've been found guilty of misconduct?
You can look at the misconduct cases here: https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/af/acc ... ct+outcome

Some of them probably don’t suggest that the officer is a danger to the public, such as two cases of fare dodging on public transport.

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:20 am

Woodchopper wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:54 am
Some of them probably don’t suggest that the officer is a danger to the public, such as two cases of fare dodging on public transport
It still suggests they have a view that they are above the rules. I would ask whether they Met is so desperate for staff they have to have such low standards, but I think we know the answer to that.
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by jimbob » Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:50 am

Fishnut wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:20 am
Woodchopper wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:54 am
Some of them probably don’t suggest that the officer is a danger to the public, such as two cases of fare dodging on public transport
It still suggests they have a view that they are above the rules. I would ask whether they Met is so desperate for staff they have to have such low standards, but I think we know the answer to that.
Exactly.

And given the situation, the Met needs to be disbanded (as the RUC was) and its successor needs to be squeaky-clean.
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Woodchopper » Sun Feb 05, 2023 2:24 pm

jimbob wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:50 am
Fishnut wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:20 am
Woodchopper wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:54 am
Some of them probably don’t suggest that the officer is a danger to the public, such as two cases of fare dodging on public transport
It still suggests they have a view that they are above the rules. I would ask whether they Met is so desperate for staff they have to have such low standards, but I think we know the answer to that.
Exactly.

And given the situation, the Met needs to be disbanded (as the RUC was) and its successor needs to be squeaky-clean.
I called for the Met to be disbanded and replaced a while back. No objections here.

As to why they need to ask people who are guilty of misconduct to come back, perhaps this is another example of how labour shortages are affecting public services. Education, health, police, the armed forces, prisons, social care etc are all facing staff shortages and recruitment problems. I keep going on about this but in the future discussions on public policy need to include 'where will the people come from' as well as the traditional 'how will we pay for it'.

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Sat Feb 25, 2023 8:13 pm

Not specific to the Met but a much broader indictment of the police in the UK. According to research by The Observer, one in 100 police officers in England and Wales faced a criminal charge last year. The article is about the Police Federation and how it has prevented officers from facing proper consequences for misconduct.

And what a surprise, one of the officers it mentions is a Met officer, PC Terry Malka, who was found guilty of m.st.rbating while on a train in 2017. An article from 2018 written during his trial describes how he was spotted by a railway employee. I'm having trouble following the timeline of events but I think he'd been drinking and fell asleep in the toilets which meant he missed his stop and had to take an alternative train. He somehow decided to spend that journey m.st.rbating. The railway employee saw him m.st.rbating and using a vape pen and it sounds like they told him to stop m.st.rbating but the article says "Malka was also told to stop using a vape pen as it could set off the smoke detectors."

The way it's reported it feels like the railway employee was more confident in calling them out for vaping than they were for m.st.rbating, and it was only when they were spotted by a guard still m.st.rbating that action was taken. Apparently he was asked to produce his ticket (I'm really not sure why that has any relevance when he's m.st.rbating in public) at which point he produced his Met Police warrant card. I can't think why he'd do that unless he thought it would make the guard look the other way.

Malka was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay £300 towards prosecution costs. The Recorder in the case told the court, 'it seems to be agreed the chances of you continuing in the Met Police are close to zero' but LBC has discovered that he's still working in the Met in an 'office based' role.
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by monkey » Sat Feb 25, 2023 8:26 pm

On the warrant card bit.

I might be remembering wrong, but I think po-po get free train travel, at least in some places. Could be that. But even if I'm remembering right, it could still be intimidating behaviour as it's still going "I'm a cop".

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by basementer » Sun Feb 26, 2023 6:34 am

monkey wrote:
Sat Feb 25, 2023 8:26 pm
On the warrant card bit.

I might be remembering wrong, but I think po-po get free train travel, at least in some places. Could be that. But even if I'm remembering right, it could still be intimidating behaviour as it's still going "I'm a cop".
I remember clearly one time on my commute into London, when the ticket inspector came through the carriage the person sitting opposite me briefly flashed what looked like a wallet. Kept it at waist level, didn't hold it out. The inspector didn't look at it more closely and moved on. I think it's plausible that he was a copper travelling gratis.
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Millennie Al » Mon Feb 27, 2023 2:59 am

According to this: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparen ... -1464-1819
All police officers and special constables working in the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police and British Transport Police are entitled to free travel on TfL run services as a concession gifted by TfL/The Mayor.

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:36 pm

Eight serving and former Metropolitan police officers have been found guilty of “gross misconduct” over discriminatory and offensive messages they shared, including some that made fun of Katie Price’s disabled son, Harvey.

Another WhatsApp group being used to share derogatory comments about people. It really feels like the police force as a whole needs to get some proper policies in place for WhatsApp groups. Maybe they need to be registered and an independent person added to check on them, and if unregistered groups are found it leads to disciplinary proceedings for everyone in the group. I don't know if that would work but clearly something needs to be done. And I also know that's treating a symptom, rather than the cause, but it would be a start.
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by shpalman » Mon Jul 24, 2023 1:57 pm

having that swing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for it meaning a thing
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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by noggins » Mon Jul 24, 2023 9:23 pm

Fishnut wrote:
Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:36 pm
Eight serving and former Metropolitan police officers have been found guilty of “gross misconduct” over discriminatory and offensive messages they shared, including some that made fun of Katie Price’s disabled son, Harvey.

Another WhatsApp group being used to share derogatory comments about people. It really feels like the police force as a whole needs to get some proper policies in place for WhatsApp groups. Maybe they need to be registered and an independent person added to check on them, and if unregistered groups are found it leads to disciplinary proceedings for everyone in the group. I don't know if that would work but clearly something needs to be done. And I also know that's treating a symptom, rather than the cause, but it would be a
start.
Not far enough imo. All polis should have 24hr cameras implanted in their heads.

Really though would you spy on any other jobs private conversations? And would you even trust the police to police it?

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Re: Met Police was (and still is) institutionally corrupt

Post by Fishnut » Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:29 pm

One of the officers has been placed under criminal investigation for this incident.
On Monday (October 23) the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced a Met Police constable is part of a criminal probe for potential offences of racially aggravated assault and false imprisonment, and for potential gross misconduct.
It's unclear to me what they mean by 'criminal probe' - whether this is just tabloidese for an investigation into this officer or something more broad. The victim has complained to the IOPC multiple times regarding her treatment and the treatment of her son during the incident. It's unclear whether the 'probe' only took place as a result of those complaints or whether they had already realised the incident required investigation. (I think we can guess though). The IOPC is already tempering expectations though,
IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: “The decision to conduct a criminal investigation is not something we take lightly and was made after careful consideration of the material we have gathered to date, including liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service. It’s important to emphasise that this development does not necessarily mean that criminal charges or disciplinary proceedings will follow.

"At the conclusion of the investigation, we will decide whether to refer a file of evidence to the CPS for a charging decision and also decide whether any officers should face disciplinary proceedings. Representatives for the woman and the officer have been advised of this update and we will keep them informed throughout our investigation.”
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