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‘Rotten to the core’

‘Predatory’ force has nowhere left to hide, campaigners warn

BRITAIN’S biggest police force is “rotten to the core” and has “nowhere to hide,” victims’ relatives warned today following a damning review which uncovered institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia.

Doreen Lawrence said findings that London’s Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist came as “no surprise” nearly 25 years after a separate inquiry came to the same conclusion following the force’s handling of her son Stephen’s racist murder in 1993.

The End Violence Against Women Coalition’s Andrea Simon said today’s 300-page report from Baroness Louise Casey was “damning” over the Met’s failings towards women, black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people and LGBT Londoners.  

And the family of Jack Taylor, one of four victims of serial killer Stephen Port, called for a public inquiry into the force, now led by commissioner Sir Mark Rowley following Cressida Dick’s resignation last year.

Sir Mark accepted the existence of systemic biases within the organisation and claimed he is “committed to rooting out racist, misogynistic and homophobic staff” following the review, commissioned after the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by off-duty Met police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.

It uncovered evidence of widespread failings, including chronic under-resourcing for tackling crimes against women and children, the collapse of neighbourhood policing and oversight failures which have allowed predatory behaviour to "flourish.”

But the commissioner’s decision not to endorse the phrase “institutional,” which he termed “ambiguous and politicised,” was slammed by Mina Smallman, whose daughters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry were murdered in June 2020.

Two Met officers were subsequently jailed for sharing images of their bodies in a WhatsApp group.

Ms Smallman said that black people will read the report and feel “we’ve been saying this for years.”

She told the BBC: “I kind of understand what he’s trying to say, [but] you have to accept this.

“Institutional is a term that the Met and big institutions fear and run away from — I think it’s weak.

“It’s not a time for wordplay or semantics, it’s a time for action.”

The call came after the review also uncovered claims that officers were told to delete WhatsApp exchanges in the wake of the June 2020 scandal and grossly offensive material shared by officers based at Charing Cross police station between 2016 and 2018.

Officer “G” told Baroness Casey — appointed a life peer in 2020 —that teams were warned to check what they had posted on the messaging app and Facebook ahead of possible investigations. 

The treatment of women and BAME employees was also condemned, with reports of one male officer repeatedly sexually assaulting a female colleague, while figures showed black officers are a whopping 81 per cent more likely to be involved in Met misconduct hearings than their white peers.  

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the force’s leadership to go “further and faster” to uncover systemic problems.

Ahead of a speech setting out the party’s “mission on crime” tomorrow, Jeremy Corbyn’s successor vowed to overhaul policing to restore public trust.

“Labour will be relentless in demanding progress and change,” he stressed, adding: “The biggest danger today is that this just becomes another report.”

Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the review makes “very concerning reading” and shows the force “faces a long road to recovery.”

Addressing MPs, the member for Fareham claimed she would ensure the Met has “all the support it needs to deliver on Sir Mark’s pledge of more trust, less crime and high standards.”

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