Commissioner Mark Rowley pledged to “turnaround” the force in response to a damning report on misconduct within the ranks
© Getty Images / Christopher Furlong / Staff
Hundreds of police officers “don’t deserve to be a cop” and should be dismissed for misconduct, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said on Monday in response to a bombshell report which was conducted in the wake of several scandals involving officers. The preliminary review, compiled by independent advisor Baroness Louise Casey, exposed over 1,800 ‘repeated offenders’ within the ranks of the police.
“Based on this report, which clearly says that we have been far too soft, there must be hundreds in the organization I need to get rid of,” Scotland Yard’s head said in an interview with Sky News.
He added that some of those to be sacked “are unethical and don’t deserve to be a cop,” while “some of what they’re doing is in many cases criminal.”
Rowley’s predecessor, Cressida Dick, asked Casey to conduct a review of the Met’s culture and standards of behavior. On Monday, the baroness shared her “initial views” and “interim findings.”
The report found 1,263 officers and staff involved in two or more disciplinary cases, over 500 – involved in three to five, and 41 – in six or more. Only 13 of those individuals had been dismissed, Casey said. One officer continued to serve with 11 misconduct cases raised against him, including “abuse, sexual harassment and assault, fraud, improper disclosure of information and distribution of an explicit image of himself.”
“In summary, my conclusion is that the misconduct system is not delivering in a way that you, I, your officers or the public would expect it to,” Casey said. She also pointed to the “racial disparity across the system, with white officers dealt with less harshly than black or Asian officers.”
Baroness Casey is expected to complete her report in February 2023.
In a written response, the Met’s Commissioner said that he is “appalled by the extent” of the findings and pledged to begin “to turnaround” the police force.
“I am sorry to those we have let down: both the public and our honest and dedicated officers,” he wrote.
Cressida Dick resigned as met commissioner in February, soon after a report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed multiple incidents of racism, sexism, and bullying within the Met’s ranks.
The first female head of Scotland Yard also acknowledged that the high-profile murder of Sarah Everard by a then-serving officer and “many other awful cases” had “damaged confidence” in the police force.
