Baroness Casey has published her interim review of the Metropolitan Police,
here.
The Times summarises it thusly:
Metropolitan Police lets sex pests and racists avoid sack
Casey review finds ‘anything goes’ on force where officers get away with crime
Sex offenders, racists and misogynists are working at the Metropolitan Police owing to an “anything goes” attitude towards misconduct and systemic failings to sack officers, a review has found.
Sir Mark Rowley, the new commissioner, admitted that there were hundreds of serving officers and staff who should have been thrown out.
An independent review by Baroness Casey of Blackstock has said that officers got away with criminal behaviour, and that repeated incidents of sexual misconduct were not treated as serious transgressions. The system was not fit for purpose, she said, highlighting systemic racial bias and officers who escaped censure even after several serious misconduct complaints.
Casey was appointed to carry out a review after the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard last year by a serving officer. There was an outpouring of scandals, including officers who joked about raping colleagues and killing black children.
Casey’s interim report, published today, focused only on how internal complaints are handled. A wider review is expected in the new year.
Nearly half of female officers in one unit had experienced misogyny in the previous six months. Black officers were 81 per cent more likely than their white colleagues to attract internal misconduct complaints, and black and Asian probationers were more than 120 per cent more likely to face serious disciplinary investigations.
Casey said the “truly awful” conduct of a minority shamed the force. Officers and staff correctly believed that reporting misconduct would bring no action, adding to a sense that “anything goes”.
She highlighted the case of an officer accused 11 times of misconduct including sharing explicit images of himself, sexual harassment, fraud and assault. He has been arrested and received two formal sanctions but is still working at the Met.
Another serving officer received two final written warnings in six misconduct cases for oppressive conduct and harassment, neglect of duty and leakage of information and discriminatory behaviour on social media. A third escaped serious sanction despite misconduct cases for domestic abuse, sexual assault, safeguarding failures and a disrespectful attitude.
Casey’s team found that more than 1,809 officers and staff had faced multiple misconduct allegations since 2013, with 41 of them involved in between six and 19 cases. Of the total, 13 have been sacked. She warned that the failure to get rid of repeat offenders and officers who were responsible for “hair-raising” behaviour was among a litany of shortcomings that meant the misconduct system was not fit for purpose.
“Cases take simply too long to resolve,” she said. “Allegations are much more likely to be dropped than acted upon and especially so if they involve issues of discrimination or sexual misconduct. There remains clear racial disparity and systemic bias throughout the system and within that, there is clear evidence of misogyny.”
White officers were dealt with less harshly than their black or Asian counterparts. Between April 2021 and March this year, black officers and staff were 81 per cent more likely to face an internal misconduct allegation than white colleagues. Casey noted that there was no disproportionality in complaints made against officers by the public. Black and Asian probationers were more than 120 per cent more likely to face a serious internal investigation that could result in the sack.
Today’s interim report is on internal misconduct reports only, with a wider review into culture and vetting failures expected in the New Year. Despite the recent focus on culture and integrity, in one borough command unit, 47 per cent of female employees who responded to a survey said that they had experienced sexism and misogyny in the past six months.
Between 55 per cent and 60 per cent of all misconduct allegations resulted in a finding of no case to answer, higher than the national average of 46 per cent. Sanctions were even less likely in cases involving discrimination and sexual misconduct. After the conviction of one officer, it emerged that a female colleague had previously reported him to supervisors saying he had sexually assaulted her, Casey’s team found.
Sir Mark Rowley, the new commissioner brought in to restore trust in the force, said he was appalled by the findings and apologised to officers and members of the public.
Dame Cressida Dick, Rowley’s predecessor, repeatedly claimed that there was “zero tolerance” for misconduct. Such claims were premature, Rowley said, adding that the failure to root out racism, misogyny, homophobia and ableism had “shamed us”.
Rowley said that he was lobbying the Home Office for changes to legislation to give him more power to sack rogue officers. Yesterday Suella Braverman, the home secretary, announced a review of police dismissals, including the oversight of misconduct panels by independent chairmen rather than chiefs. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said that the situation at the Met was “even worse than feared”.
