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A damning report commissioned after a young woman was raped and killed by a serving officer concluded that London’s police force has lost the trust of the community it serves because it is riven with institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia and doesn’t do enough to weed out bad officers.
The Metropolitan Police Service, the largest police force in Britain with more than 34,000 officers, is required “After failing to address these persistent issues for more than 20 years, investigators concluded in the report released on Tuesday that the organization must “change itself” or risk dissolution.
“It is not the responsibility of the general public to protect itself from the police. Inquiry leader and victim’s rights and social welfare expert Louise Casey stated that it is the responsibility of the police to keep the general public safe. “To do that, far too many Londoners have since lost faith in law enforcement.
The report found that ethnic minority communities are overpoliced, crimes against women and girls are poorly investigated, and trust in the police is declining among LGBTQ people as a result of ingrained bias, poor management, and budget cuts. Whistleblowers are shunned, outside criticism is disregarded, and too many bad officers have been permitted to continue working even after being accused of domestic abuse or harassing their coworkers. As a result, these problems have been allowed to worsen.
The findings are particularly damaging in Britain, where law enforcement is based on the idea of equal protection under the law, even though they echo criticism of large city police departments in the U.S. and other nations after the Black Lives Matter movement “policing with permission Since most police officers don’t carry weapons, they must rely on the community’s acceptance of their presence in exchange for the promise that the police will keep them safe.
The Met’s top leadership welcomed the report and declared it would be a catalyst for change because the need to reverse the situation is so pressing.
The department’s director, Mark Rowley, claimed that reading the report was impossible without becoming “Angry, ashamed, and humbled After his predecessor was forced to resign because Mayor Sadiq Khan claimed he lost faith in her ability to lead the department, Rowley was appointed commissioner six months ago.
“I wholeheartedly agree with Louise Casey’s diagnosis. Rowley said to Sky News, “We have racists, misogynists, and homophobes in the organization. “Additionally, it’s not just about people. We have management failures, systemic failures, and cultural failures.
A serving officer sexually assaulted and killed Sarah Everard, a young marketing executive, as she walked home from a friend’s house in March 2021, prompting the Casey review. But after another officer admitted to 48 rapes and numerous other serious crimes committed over a 17-year period, the department was recently embroiled in yet another scandal.
Although Casey makes it clear that the majority of officers carry out their duties honestly, she claimed that good officers have been let down by the department’s defensive stance. This has led to an excessive amount of blame being placed on corrupt officers’ mistakes “Bad apples,” she said, “missing the chance for the kind of systemic change required to reform the department.
The Met must put in place recruitment, training, and disciplinary procedures that draw in qualified officers eager to serve their communities and weed out unqualified ones “predators and bullies” who wish to harm others with their position of power, according to Casey.
“Predatory and unacceptable behavior has been allowed to flourish in the absence of vigilance toward those who intend to abuse the office of constable, she claimed in the report. “Too many places exist for people to hide.
Casey also emphasized how the Met’s real-term funding has decreased by 18% over the past ten years as a result of central government austerity measures. She claimed that during that time, the department lost one-fifth of its civilian employees and shut down 126 police stations, effectively killing the idea of community policing.
The investigation found that the management of the force, not its size, is what is at the root of all of the issues.
Casey compared the force’s reform initiatives to “flip-flops while scaling Mount Everest,” she told the BBC. “Get them climbing Everest in their boots, please.
Women shared their stories of being threatened or attacked on London’s streets after Everard’s murder two years ago, sparking a national outcry.
Police dispersed the crowd of hundreds who had gathered at Clapham Common in south London to call attention to the violence women endure on a daily basis, claiming it had violated COVID-19 lockdown regulations. To the screams and shouts of onlookers, a video that was shared on social media showed male officers grabbing hold of several women and dragging them away in handcuffs.
However, the Everard case was only one of a number of scandals that have recently rocked the Met.
In December 2021, two officers who had been sent to guard the scene where two Black women had been killed were imprisoned for taking and sharing photos of the women’s bodies.
In addition, the Met was charged with homophobia for failing to apprehend serial killer Stephen Port, who killed four young men over the course of 15 months in 2014 and 2015.
The bodies of the victims, all gay men in their 20s whose homes were discovered nearby in east London, were not initially connected by detectives. They didn’t start looking into the deaths as possible homicides until the final victim’s family pushed for action.
The department hasn’t taken violence against women and girls as seriously as other types of violence, according to Casey’s review.
The 363-page report also painted a troubling picture of how investigations into crimes against women and children are conducted as a result of a lack of resources and officers who have been specially trained to handle these cases.
Police tasked with looking into these crimes are compelled to keep rape samples in “Investigators discovered that these people “don’t have access to fast-track forensic services,” leaving them with overstuffed, decaying, or broken fridges and freezers.
One of these refrigerators contained a lunchbox that tainted the data. Last summer, a different appliance malfunctioned, rendering the evidence useless and damaged.
However, the issues go beyond how women and girls are treated.
Casey emphasized the fact that the department is still disproportionately white and male, even 24 years after another investigation concluded that institutional racism played a major role in the Met’s failure to look into the killing of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The most recent department statistics show that 17% of London’s police officers are Black, Asian, or mixed race, up from 10% a decade ago. Nearly 31% of police officers are women, an increase from nearly 25% in 2013.
The 2021 census shows that 46% of London’s population is non-white.
One in five employees who have protected characteristics, such as race, sexual orientation, or disability, were victims of bullying, the report also revealed.
Officers who testified before the inquiry related stories of a Muslim officer who discovered bacon stuffed into his boots inside his locker and a Sikh officer whose beard was amputated because his colleagues thought it was funny.
“The Met must make sure it can hire and keep the best officers and staff from all backgrounds if it is to provide London with the police service it needs, according to the report. “If applicants believe they will experience discrimination at work, they are less likely to join the Met.
