In 1999, following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager stabbed to death by a white racist gang in Eltham, South East London, an investigation was set up by four years later by the then Labour Home Secretary. Under the chairpersonship of Lord Justice Macpherson the report, published in 1999, concluded that the Metropolitan Police was ‘institutionally racist’. The nature of the police investigation was found to be riddled with corruption and stereotypes that meant that the investigation in to Stephen’s death was flawed from the start.
Now thirty years after Stephen’s murder another report, this time by Baroness Louise Casey, has not only found that it is still institutionally racist but is drowning in many other types of bigotry and criminal behaviour too.
A Summary
The Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic and may have more officers like killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick, a damning report has found.
A review by Baroness Louise Casey, who spent a year investigating the Met Police in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Couzens, said Britain’s largest force needs a “complete overhaul” and may need to be broken up.
Among a series of recommendations to “fix” the Met, Baroness Casey said the unit that Carrick – who was unmasked as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders – and Couzens both served in should be “effectively disbanded”.
Her 363-page report found evidence of widespread bullying, racist attitudes and “deep-seated homophobia” in the force.
Asked if there could be more officers in the Met like Couzens and Carrick, Baroness Casey said: “I cannot sufficiently assure you that that is not the case.”
She pointed out that Carrick was only caught after one of his victims heard a statement made by Ms Everard’s devastated mother and was moved to contact Hertfordshire Police, rather than as a result of any action by the Met.
Among the report’s findings:
• A policewoman told how she tried to end her own life over the Met’s handling of her abuse allegations against another officer
• Staff were told that rape cases “would be dropped” due to a broken Met Police freezer that contained evidence from alleged victims. In another incident, a lunch box was found in the same fridge as rape samples, which would have contaminated evidence
• The Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command – in which Couzens and Carrick served – is “a dark corner of the Met where poor behaviours can easily flourish”
• A “deeply troubling, toxic culture” existed in the Met’s specialist firearms command, known as MO19, which included a training desk where “men hold competitions on how often they can make their female students cry”
• A female officer who accused a more senior colleague of sexual assault said she was “labelled a trouble-maker”
• An openly gay officer told the review: “I am scared of the police,” after he was the target of a “sustained campaign of homophobia from inside the Met”
• One officer “groomed” a victim of domestic abuse, while another was heard calling a white woman caught buying drugs from a black man a “n***** lover”.
‘Culture of denial’
Baroness Casey warned “predatory and unacceptable behaviour has been allowed to flourish” at the Met Police and there was a “culture of denial” in the force.
She called for the Met 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 as the public.”
“I make a finding of institutional racism, sexism and homophobia in the Met,” Baroness Casey wrote.
Damning review echoes landmark inquiry
The peer said if “sufficient progress” was not made to reform the force, “dividing up the Met… should be considered”.
The force currently runs the national counter-terrorism command and there have long been calls for that responsibility to move to the National Crime Agency, to allow the Met to focus on policing London.
Her conclusion that the force 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 Met investigated his death.
Since then, the force has remained largely white and male, the review found.
Met chief dismisses ‘institutional’ branding
In response to the report, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley apologised and said he accepted the “diagnosis” of prejudice in the force.
However, he said he would not use the term “institutional” because he viewed it as politicised and ambiguous.
The senior officer – who replaced Dame Cressida Dick as the head of the Met last year – said the findings sparked “feelings of shame and anger, but it also increases our resolve”.
“The appalling examples in this report of discrimination, the letting down of communities and victims, and the strain faced by the frontline, are unacceptable,” he said.
“We have let people down, and I repeat the apology I gave in my first weeks to Londoners and our own people in the Met. I am sorry.
“I want us to be anti-racist, anti-misogynist and anti-homophobic. In fact, I want us to be anti-discrimination of all kinds.”
Baroness Casey said she was disappointed that Sir Mark would not accept the term “institutional” in relation to her findings, but said she will wait to see what action the force takes in the coming weeks and months.
Met Police chief ’embarrassed’ by review – but won’t use term ‘institutionally racist’
The head of the Metropolitan Police says there are still “toxic individuals” in the force and he feels “embarrassed” by a scathing review that found it is institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic.
Sir Mark Rowley described the review by Baroness Louise Casey as “very, very worrying” – and admitted there are members of the force who are suspended or under investigation.
He said that “maybe” the Met has got “toxic individuals” of whom the force has “concerns about their predatory behaviour”.
While fully accepting “the diagnosis” of the findings, Sir Mark would not use the term “institutionally racist” to describe the force.
“We have a real problem here. We have misogyny, homophobia and racism in the organisation. We’re absolutely determined to deliver the transformation required.”
He added: “We’re removing officers more quickly. We’re tackling these issues. And meanwhile, day in and day out, I’ve got the officers of the force who are coming forward and they are absolutely determined to tackle this – the vast majority.
“I was embarrassed and angered by this… and we want to make a difference.”
Sir Mark said the recommendations from Baroness Casey “will massively influence thinking and the plans we have ahead to reform the policing in London as we strengthen our work in neighbourhoods, as we improve the response to victims and as we tackle the toxic individuals in the organisation.”
He said he will give a full update on the work to reform the Met by the end of the month.
Met Police needs ‘complete overhaul’
Baroness Louise Casey, who spent a year investigating the Met Police in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by then-officer Wayne Couzens, concluded in her review that Britain’s largest force needs a “complete overhaul” and may need to be broken up.
Her 363-page report also found evidence of widespread bullying, racist attitudes and “deep-seated homophobia” in the force.
In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said work was already happening in police forces to regain people’s trust.
Mr Sunak told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday that the police commissioner is “committed to doing that”, adding “there are already some changes underway at the moment”.
“It’s not just in London – across the country we’ve changed the guidance for police forces, for how they vet new police officers,” he said.
Forces are now checking all their officers again against the police database, and they are being overseen by the independent inspector, the prime minister said.
Further unacceptable cases ‘will come to light’
London mayor Sadiq Khan has said he accepts “full responsibility” for the review’s findings as the boss of the police force.
He stated that that Met Commissioner Sir Mark has his “confidence” and that he had lost confidence in the former commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick.
Mr Khan said what Baroness Casey is demanding is a “complete overhaul” of the Met Police.
On Sir Mark not accepting the full findings of the report in his interview with Burley, Mr Khan said: “I fully accept the report. I think the police service is usually racist, it’s usually homophobic, it’s usually misogynistic, and that’s sort of the complete overhaul. So the commissioner should look again at accepting that.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a statement shared on Twitter that she is “confident that under Sir Mark’s leadership, progress is being made to reform standards and deliver common sense policing for all Londoners”.
However, she admitted there is “much more to do and the task of rooting out unfit officers means that further unacceptable cases will come to light”.
Review is a ‘wake-up call’
Shadow policing minister Sarah Jones told Sky News that Baroness Casey has “left no stone unturned” and that the Met “cannot police itself”.
“I think fundamentally what [Baroness] Louise is saying is that policing attracts the best of humanity, but it will also attract predators and people who do harm,” she said.
“And in the same way that we have changed systems in education or in medicine, we need to do the same in policing.
“We need to make sure there aren’t predatory people allowed to exist in the Met and to continue, operate and be Metropolitan Police officers.”
Community needs to be put back ‘at heart of policing’
Also reacting to the review was Nusrit Mehtab, former Scotland Yard superintendent, who described Baroness Casey’s report as “damning”, adding she has “held a mirror into the workforce”.
“And what you see is that they’re institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. And it’s a police service that has lost its way. It is shocking and devastating for the people of London.”
She added that if the head of the Metropolitan Police Service will not accept the review’s recommendations, then an “independent body should be brought in to dismantle” the force.
“It’s a big beast and they do specialisms very well, in terms of putting investing money in the frontline policing, but neighbourhood policing has been neglected. So those are the things that they really do need to invest in and specialisms need to be hived off,” Ms Mehtab said.
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