BRITAIN’S largest police force is “institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic,” a damning review finds today.

London’s Metropolitan Police has failed to protect the public from officers like killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick, and the force may have more officers like them, it warned.

Baroness Louise Casey’s report said that organisational changes at the Met have put women and children at greater risk and female officers and staff routinely experience sexism.

The review — commissioned in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by Couzens in March 2021 — also described racist officers and employees and a “deep-seated homophobia” within the organisation.

Baroness Casey said her findings are “rigorous, stark and unsparing” and “cannot sufficiently assure” people if there could be more dangerous officers in the force.

Her conclusion that the Met — now run by commissioner Sir Mark Rowley following Cressida Dick’s resignation last year — is institutionally racist echoes that of the Macpherson Inquiry in 1999, which took place after Stephen Lawrence’s murder and the abject failures in how the force investigated his death.

The Met was also accused of homophobia over the failure to stop serial killer Stephen Port murdering four young men between 2014 and 2015, but bosses denied there was an issue.

Baroness Casey called for the force to “change itself,” adding: “It is not our job as the public to keep ourselves safe from the police — it is the police’s job to keep us safe. 

“Far too many Londoners have now lost faith in policing to do that.”

Her 363-page report found that violence against women and girls has not been taken as seriously as other forms of violence, and it also uncovered widespread bullying in the Met, with a fifth of staff with protected characteristics — for example, gender, race or sexuality – being victimised.

“Female officers and staff routinely face sexism and misogyny,” it said.

“Despite the Met saying violence against women and girls is a priority, it has been treated differently from ‘serious violence.’

“In practice this has meant it has not been taken as seriously in terms of resourcing and prioritisation.”

Officers are relying on “over-stuffed, dilapidated or broken fridges and freezers” instead of fast-track forensic services, the review warned.

A lunchbox was found in the same fridge as rape samples which would have contaminated the evidence, it reported, while last summer one fridge containing rape kits broke down – meaning the samples could not be used as evidence.

The report added that Londoners have been “put last” with the loss of police commands for each borough following a critical report in 2016, and that now the city “no longer has a functioning neighbourhood policing service.”

Baroness Casey accused senior management of a “tick-box” approach to the slew of negative reports in recent years, preferring to put the blame on individual bad apples rather than tackling systemic problems.

The ex-deputy director of the Shelter charity noted a culture of denial and a “we-know-best” attitude, as well as problems including austerity, changes in crime and a disciplinary system that makes it “difficult to get rid of people who corrupt the Met’s integrity.”

The report said: “In the absence of vigilance towards those who intend to abuse the office of constable, predatory and unacceptable behaviour has been allowed to flourish.

“There are too many places for people to hide.”

The review, which made 16 recommendations, demanded a “complete overhaul” of the Met and warned it could be broken up without change. 

Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the “damning” findings “must be a turning point.”

“I will not be satisfied until Londoners have the police service they deserve,” he stressed.