Met Police diverts terrorism officers to tackle internal clean up of force

Dozens of Metropolitan Police officers specialised in tackling serious and organised crime and counter-terrorism have been diverted to internal standards as part of a drive to clean up the force.

Britain’s biggest police force, based in London, was recently branded institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynist following a major review launched after a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving policeman.

Another Met officer, David Carrick, was unmasked as a serial abuser and rapist.

Around 90 officers have been diverted from serious crimes to the Directorate for Professional Standards. Dozens of Met officers have been dismissed over the past six months. The force is now going through older misconduct cases in its effort to restore public trust.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who began the role in September, believes there are hundreds of corrupt officers among its more than 43,000 force and staff who should not be in the job.

Since he took over, the Met has suspended 144 officers over new and old misconduct cases, twice as many as in the previous six months, a report on improving standards in the force showed. The number of dismissals rose 70 per cent to 51 in the same period.

“I said we were serious about this and I meant it. This is the strongest doubling down on standards in the Met for 50 years,” the commissioner said in a statement.

Speaking on Radio 4 on Thursday, the commissioner said the move was the first step in “the biggest drive on professional standards in the Metropolitan Police in 50 years”.

The force took the decision because it “cannot succeed in any policing mission unless we resolve these issues as urgently as possible”, he said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said the officers' investigative expertise is useful in rooting out wrongdoing.

A spokesman told The National the force had the flexibility to cope with the redeployment.

He said: "We have an officer strength of around 34,500 police officers so we have the flexibility to be able to divert some resources to priority areas without having a detrimental impact on other business."

The force's latest update said it had found nearly 200 cases where officers and staff needed urgent risk assessments or vetting reviews, and almost 700 completed cases where there might be new or missed lines of inquiry.

Four out of five original inquiries into officers and other staff accused of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the 10 years to April 2022 did not result in the correct action and should be “reassessed” as they need “more work”, he told Radio 4.

“I think the issue for policing is to not get drawn into whether the only test is whether something reaches a criminal standard. [if something doesn’t merit a charge] That doesn’t mean there isn’t material in the file which still gives a level of concern that something might need to lead to action.

“And I think too often we haven’t done that and you saw that in the David Carrick case.”

The commissioner said the force had been “too permissive” when it comes to allowing officers with criminal convictions.

“The public would expect us to take a very tough line,” Sir Mark said.

“But I don’t think it should be a completely binary line. I think we would all see the kid who had cannabis in his pocket at 15, so it shouldn’t rule them out for their whole life.

“But I think we have been too permissive, that’s very clear.”

Further reviews are continuing to assess the vetting of serving officers and all staff are being checked against the Police National Computer, which records convictions.

Sir Mark said the immediate measures are part of enforcement action to remove those who undermine the culture of the force, with longer term plans including leadership training and better support for frontline officers designed to address wider cultural problems.

“The most urgent thing is to, if you like, remove the cancer from the body and that's what this is about, that first step,” he said.

More than 1,000 records where officers and staff were accused of domestic violence or sexual offences in the past 10 years have now been checked to make sure the right decision was taken.

Sir Mark said that of the 1,131 individuals whose cases were reviewed, 246 will see no further action; 689 will have their case reassessed; and 196 will be referred into formal risk management measures and may have their vetting status reviewed.

Each of the cases will also be reviewed by an external panel.

Sir Mark said he is considering tightening the rules around officers and staff with criminal convictions, to ban anyone prosecuted for anything other than “the most trivial matters” or offences committed under the age of 18.

A total of 161 Met officers have criminal convictions, 76 for serious traffic offences including drink driving and careless driving.

Another 49 have convictions for crimes of dishonesty or violence — eight of whom committed the offences while they were police officers and remain serving with the force.

Other crimes include drug possession, criminal damage and public order offences, and three serving officers have convictions for sexual offences.

Sir Mark said the figures were “troubling reading”.

All 50,000 employees of the Met are also being checked against the police national database, which is used for intelligence.

So far of the 10,000 records that have been checked, 38 cases of potential misconduct have been uncovered and 55 where there is an off-duty association with a criminal.

The remainder of the records are due to have been checked by the summer.

Vetting rules have already been toughened up with officers and staff being revetted if their behaviour is of concern, for example following a criminal investigation or misconduct hearing where they stay in the job.

In the coming months, more than 100 individuals are expected to have their status reviewed, Sir Mark said.

The commissioner also revealed that there have been 1,000 calls to a hotline allowing the public to report Met officers abusing their positions of trust.

These have resulted in 350 reports that are being responded to, and have already led to officers being arrested and suspended from duty.

Of the Met workforce of around 34,000 officers, 701 are currently on restricted duties.

“The Met plays a unique role in keeping millions of Londoners safe and protecting the country from terrorism, so it is crucial the public has confidence in the force to carry out these duties with the utmost professionalism,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman said.

“I have been clear that a relentless focus on improving standards and common sense policing is required.

“Sir Mark's update on the work to root out unfit officers demonstrates the scale of this challenge but I have confidence in his plan to turn around the Met and ensure the force is delivering for the public.”