Police culture of rape threats and racist abuse not just in the Met, watchdog chief warns

1 February 2022, 20:29 | Updated: 2 February 2022, 08:30

IOPC Director Sal Naseem speaks to LBC's Nick Ferrari

A senior policing figure told LBC today that a vile culture that saw serving officers share rape threats, racist remarks, and jokes about the holocaust was not isolated to the Metropolitan police.

IOPC Regional Director for London Sal Naseem told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that a culture of racism and misogyny among officers at Charing Cross police station revealed in an IOPC report yesterday is present in police forces around the country.

Mr Naseem didn't single out any other forces, but said: “Due to the work, what we are seeing, is these issues are not just isolated to one police force.

“We’ve written last April to the National Police Chiefs Council to express our worries and concerns around what we are seeing exchanged on social media groups, Whatsapp groups.

“While this is a shocking case that speaks to some of the cultural issues within the Met, it’s also fair to point out it is not just isolated to the Met. “

Yesterday mother of two women whose dead bodies were photographed by officers guarding their murder scene has asked how many more times Cressida Dick will need to apologise for the Metropolitan Police's conduct.

Mina Smallman said there is "no way" higher ups in the Metropolitan Police were unaware of the behaviour of officers at Charing Cross police station, which has been laid bare by a damning new report that found a group of 14 cops shared rape threats and racist abuse.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] said their behaviour was not an isolated case of "bad apples".

Now, Mina Smallman, whose daughters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry were pictured at the scene of their murder before being sent around on Whatsapp, took aim at the Met's Commissioner.

"Cressida Dick's response to this report is an apology to the people of London. Well, how many apologies do you make before they stop having any meaning at all?" she told LBC's Charlotte Lynch.

Read more: Rape threats and Auschwitz jokes shame of Met cops revealed by watchdog

Read more: Police culture made my son a racist and misogynist, mother tells LBC

Mina Smallman on IOPC report

"There is no way that the top of the tree was unaware of this behaviour."

In a separate case to the Charing Cross station issue, which emerged in Tuesday's report, two former Met Police officers were sentenced to two years and nine months each for misconduct in a public office after taking images of murdered Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman at their Wembley crime scene.

Accusations of an institutional problem were denied by Scotland Yard's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bas Javid, who said he was "utterly disgusted" by the behaviour of a group of the Charing Cross-based officers.

A series of investigations by the IOPC, a watchdog, also found they made jokes about the Holocaust, evidence of bullying and a culture of abuse and misogyny.

But when asked by LBC about how the Met has repeatedly denied accusations of being institutionally homophobic, racist or sexist – with the report saying the issue was not isolated – DAC Javid said: "I don't really have any particular affiliation with the word "institutional", not from the examples we've seen because like I've said on many occasions before, the large, large number of people in the Met are not officers who demonstrate behaviours like this.

"In the small number of cases where they do, that needs to be dealt with and that's where our focus is, that doesn't make it an institutional problem.

Bas Javid on IOPC report into Charring Cross Police

"I think it's the behaviours of the officers and these individuals that matter and that's what we want to focus on."

The shocking IOPC findings, which the Met apologised over, include highly sexualised or discriminatory texts and Whatsapp messages between officers, which sometimes referred to violence. The officers tried to defend them as "banter".

Numerous exchanges about rape or "raping" each other – including an instance of one sending messages saying "I would happily rape you" to a female colleague – were found.

One cop was referred to as "McRapey Raperson" on Whatsapp, which colleagues explained as coming from rumours he took a woman to the station for sex, while another co-worker said he thought it came from his "harassing" of women.

They joked about going to a festival dressed as sex offenders.

Messages mocking non-Christian religions, Black Lives Matter, people with disabilities, racism and homophobia were all found.

And an anti-Semitic joke about killing flies was uncovered, while Black and Asian officers said they were ostracised.

DAC Javid said 10 of those investigated are still employed by the Met while two were dismissed and are barred from policing, while five were put through a misconduct process which ended in some form of sanction.

He said it was important to take the recommendations made by the IOPC forward.

A Met statement said: "The conduct of a team of officers at Charing Cross police station in central London does not represent the values of the Metropolitan Police Service.

"We are deeply sorry to Londoners and everyone they have failed with their appalling conduct and acknowledge how this will damage the trust and confidence of many in the Met.

"Since this reprehensible behaviour was uncovered in 2017 we have taken a series of measures to hold those responsible to account and stamp out unacceptable behaviour."

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the officers were "sickening", Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "utterly disgusted" while Labour's shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called their actions "appalling behaviour".