Met Police 'riddled with racism, sexism and homophobia' and has 'failed to change', landmark report to claim
17 March 2023, 10:43
The Metropolitan Police is rife with racism, sexism and homophobia, and has "failed to change" - despite several warnings, a landmark report is expected to say.
Louise Casey was instructed to conduct a review into the UK's biggest police force after the murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens in 2021.
The report from Lady Casey, who is the first independent commissioner for victims and witnesses, is expected to detail the Met police's "atrocious" failings.
It will also come to the conclusion that the Met is in the "last-chance saloon", with the force's future under consideration.
Lady Casey is expected to "excoriate" the Met for its failings, which she says have been allowed to continue due to poor leadership and "pernicious cultures", The Guardian reported.
In 2009, ten years after Sir William Macpherson's report on the failings that helped Stephen Lawrence's racist killers escape justice, the Met said it was no longer institutionally racist.
But the report is expected to say that significant failures have continued to take place.
The report has been seen by the government and Met leadership, sparking urgent crisis talks between Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and home secretary Suella Braverman.
Read More: Dame Cressida Dick asked for £500,000 when she resigned as Met Police chief
So-called 'Maxwell letters' have been sent to the Met leadership, which allows those criticised in the report to provide a statement before publication.
That includes former commissioner Cressida Dick, who stood down in September last year following a series of high-profile failures within the force.
The actions of serving police officers Wayne Couzens and David Carrick will feature heavily in the report, both of which were considered to carry a gun in the same unit - despite patterns of violent sexual behaviour.
Former Conservative governments will also be in the firing line, with Lady Casey expected to say austerity hampered the Met's ability to operate in neighbourhoods and communities.
A spokesperson for the Casey review said: "The review into the culture and standards of the Metropolitan police was commissioned in light of the appalling facts relating to the murderer of Sarah Everard.
"This must be remembered if at all possible as we move towards its publication. We will not be commenting on its contents ahead of publication. We respectfully ask others to do the same."
Sir Mark Rowley has promised to turn around the force on a number of occasions, which he insisted is full of "tens of thousands of hard-working and honest officers".
In January, the commissioner published a nine-point plan to try and win back the public's trust.
He said: "I am determined to win back Londoners' trust.
"We can succeed because of the dedicated, honest, often heroic, men and women who are the great majority of the Met. Our work has begun, but I must be candid.
"We cannot achieve the profound reforms needed quickly or without the ongoing help and support of wider policing, politicians, partner organisations and most of all, communities.
"Lifting the stone reveals painful truths that will not be resolved overnight, and it is critical that these truths cause none of us to lose our resolve to renew Peel’s vision of policing by consent."
Sir Mark published the "Turnaround Plan", which the force said sets out how it will win back trust, reduce crime and ensure high standards over the next two years.
Sir Mark's priorities are:
- Create the "strongest ever" neighbourhood policing
- Strengthen its work in public protection and safeguarding
- Providing a compassionate and effective service to victims and members of the public
- Proactively reduce crime
- Raise standards and show communities the force cares about them
- "Set the frontline up to succeed"
- Modernising its teaching and development of leaders
- Be "relentlessly" data-driven and evidence-based
- Make efficient use of resources
He has also apologised on a number of occasions for the Met's failure to stop serial rapist David Carrick in his tracks, saying "he should not have been a police officer".
The Met came under fire for missing nine opportunities to arrest Carrick, who admitted to 49 separate offences against 12 women in January.
Carrick, 47, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, served as a diplomatic protection officer during the 17-year period in which the offences were committed.
Sir Mark Rowley said the force had "let women and girls down" by failing to stop Carrick's actions, and apologised to his victims.
Meanwhile, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will conclude this month whether a Met firearms officer should be referred to prosecutors after Chris Kaba was shot by police last year.
