“It was never "just a few bad apples".
The Metropolitan Police force is being condemned by politicians as well as equality campaigners, after a landmark reported published today found the force to ‘institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.’
The report, carried out by Louise Casey, was commissioned by the Met after one of its officers abducted Sarah Everard, taking her from a London street in March 2021, before raping and murdering her.
The 363-page report highlights a collapse of confidence in the Met, with Lady Casey saying: “Public respect has fallen to a low point. Londoners who do not have confidence in the Met outnumber those who do, and these measures have been lower amongst black Londoners for years.
“The Met has yet to free itself of institutional racism. Public consent is broken. The Met has become unanchored from the Peelian principle of policing by consent set out when it was established.”
Casey’s report revealed that a female officer who reported being raped by a colleague was then forced to work alongside him. Junior staff were urinated on in showers and a gay officer crossed the street to avoid colleagues.
A Muslim officer had bacon pushed into his boots and a senior member of staff thought it would be amusing to cut off the beard of a Sikh member of staff. The report also found that female officers were treated like “cattle” and judged on their perceived attractiveness and broken fridges were used to store rape kits.
The report also found that the use of stop and search powers against black people was excessive.
Casey’s recommendations included that independent experts should overhaul the force, with consideration given to breaking it up if major reforms are not achieved quickly.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is among those who criticised the Met today, saying that: “The racist, sexist and homophobic abuses of power that have run rife in the Metropolitan Police have shattered the trust that Britain’s policing relies on and let victims down.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he felt sad reading the report and recounted his own experiences, saying he felt ‘gaslit’ by the police.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana tweeted: “It was never “just a few bad apples”.
“The Metropolitan Police is rotten and today even an official report has agreed, judging the force to be “institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.”
“The Met requires fundamental overhaul, not small tweaks.”
Jess Phillips MP tweeted: “Eternally grateful to Louise Casey. It feels for the first time that it has been laid bare what anyone who has worked in space of child, domestic & sexual abuse knew to be the case. While powerful stood in front of us & said warm words about it being a priority, it wasn’t.
“It’s grim reading but I feel confident that we have a chance to change this and that gives me hope. I promise I will not rest until this is an actual priority not just a rushed statement of warm words and faux horror.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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