MPS Commissioner promises to ‘radically overhaul’ culture and standards after review highlights ‘shameful’ misconduct failings

Sir Mark Rowley said he will “urgently confront the culture, systems and leadership that have let down the public and officers and staff alike”.

His comments came after an interim report by Baroness Louise Casey published on Monday (October 17) found officers and staff suffered discrimination and hate from colleagues and were then further let down by a weak response from the MPS.

Overall, her report concluded misconduct cases are taking too long to resolve, allegations are more likely to be dismissed than acted upon and there is racial disparity across the system, with white officers dealt with less harshly than black or Asian officers.

Baroness Casey said: “The length of misconduct investigations in the Met is a source of huge frustration for officers and staff. The delay impacts the individual making the allegation, the officer subject to the complaint, as well as operational effectiveness and the service to Londoners.”

Sir Mark said: “Integrity is the foundation of policing. People rightly expect us to uphold the highest standards.

“Yet our organisation is being undermined by corrupting behaviours that have gone unchallenged and have been allowed to multiply.

“While the focus of this report is on misconduct, it tells a serious story about our culture. We need to radically overhaul how our organisation is set up, and instil our values in everything we do.”

Chief Constable Andy Marsh, chief executive of the College of Policing, said the Baroness Casey review “ puts a shameful light on behaviour which has eroded the foundation of our model to police by consent”.

He added: “What has been found has no place in society, let alone in a police service where we should be dedicated to helping the vulnerable. The report makes for difficult reading but it is vital that we listen to what Baroness Casey has found and I know the commissioner and the Met are committed to taking immediate action to resolve these issues.”

Baroness Casey was invited by the MPS to independently assess the organisation’s culture and standards, and identify how it can improve.

In a letter to Sir Mark, Baroness Casey said analysis has identified eight key issues.

• The MPS takes too long to resolve misconduct cases – on average, it takes 400 days to finalise misconduct allegations from start to finish and nearly 20 per cent of cases take more than two years to finalise;
• Between 55 to 60 per cent of misconduct allegations made by MPS officers, staff and their families receive a ‘no case to answer’ decision, with line managers and supervisors warning staff against taking misconduct action, so that the “view that nothing happens is institutionalised”;
• Allegations relating to sexual misconduct and other discriminatory behaviours are less likely than other misconduct allegations to result in a ‘case to answer’ decision – just 20 per cent concerned with breaching equality and diversity rules and 29 per cent involving sexual misconduct result in a ‘case to answer’ compared with 33 per cent of all finalised allegations;
• The misconduct process does not find and discipline officers with repeated or patterns of unacceptable behaviour – between 2013 and 2022, 20 per cent of officers and staff in the misconduct system have been involved in two or more cases, but the data shows that less than one per cent of those officers have been dismissed;
• Many misconduct cases are handled by the local Professional Standards Units which are “overstretched, under- resourced and do not receive training in misconduct”, which Baroness Casey says is “undermining local efforts to improve standards of behaviour”.
• The MPS threshold and interpretation for what counts as ‘gross misconduct’ is set too high, meaning too many of those who fall short of what the public would expect cannot be removed, In addition to this, with the number of those actually dismissed where a case to answer for gross misconduct is found falling significantly in recent years;
• There is racial disparity throughout the MPS’s misconduct system – despite improvement, in 2021/22 black officers and staff were 81 per cent more likely than white officers to have misconduct allegations brought against them, while Asian officers were 55 per cent more likely, which Baroness Casey said was “a long standing issue and clear evidence of systemic bias”; and
• Regulation 13, which allows for the removal of probationers for misconduct, was not being used “fairly or effectively”, with only eight per cent of cases in the most recent year resulting in dismissal. The report found it was also used “disproportionally” on those from ethnic minorities, with black officers being 126 per cent more likely and Asian officers 123 per cent more likely to be subject to a regulation case than white officers.

Baroness Casey said a piecemeal approach to these issues is unlikely to work.

“Radical and wholesale reform of the system is required to increase both public confidence in the Met and internal confidence in the misconduct process,” she said. “Accountability for achieving them also needs to be held at the highest level of the Met.”

Baroness Casey said that for many in the MPS, the report and its contents “will make difficult reading”.

She said it was important that the new Commissioner and his leadership team “take the necessary action by making urgent and effective improvements, not incremental reform”.

While Baroness Casey said she had been “struck by how many outstanding and tirelessly hard-working officers there are”, she added: “At the same time I have seen for myself, as has the public, some of the truly awful conduct of officers going through the misconduct and criminal justice system.

“They may be a minority but what they have said and done is laid bare publicly and is a cause for shame.

“You owe it to the outstanding and hardworking officers to get this right and reform the system for the long term.”

Baroness Casey said there will be a lot of work to do and she does not “underestimate the challenges ahead”.

“I am also clear, however, that for all its problems, there are many thousands of Met officers and staff who do an extraordinary job every day for our city, putting their own lives and safety at risk, delivering an often outstanding service and who want to work to the highest of standards.

“I therefore commit myself to supporting them, and your efforts to achieve those standards. London and Londoners deserve nothing less.”

Mr Marsh said “strong leadership from all ranks at the Met is the key to restoring public trust and confidence”.

He added: It’s why the College of Policing is implementing a new National Centre for Police Leadership that will deliver world class leaders who are equipped with the skills to call out wrongdoing, improve results and bring the service up to the highest standard the public rightly expects.

“I meet with the commissioner and his team regularly and the College of Policing is significantly boosting support in developing sergeants and inspectors, sharing best practice on what works to improve public confidence and giving access to world class training on counter corruption.

“In the summer I made clear in new guidance to the independent chairs of police misconduct hearings that I expected any officer whose actions could affect public confidence to be sacked. Today I want to reiterate that message. We cannot afford to go soft on those who deface the office of constable through their behaviour.

“There is significant work to do but there are tens of thousands of committed men and woman who will be out policing their communities today equally disgusted by what they see in this report. We owe it to them to drive the change needed in policing.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Martin Hewitt said the in-depth review of culture and standards “highlights serious and shameful issues in the Met”.

He added: “Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has accepted these and committed to taking both immediate and long-term action to put it right.

“Misogyny, racism, homophobia, abuse and misconduct betray our code of ethics, the public and the good majority in policing – they must be driven out.

“Chief constables will be closely studying this review and subsequent action by the Met, assuring themselves they are using every lever they have to the fullest to remove those who undermine standards and integrity.

“We support the Home Secretary’s intention to review the wider misconduct system so that the guilty are removed and the innocent exonerated as quickly as possible.”

Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) Director General Michael Lockwood said: “I welcome the findings of Baroness Casey’s interim report into the current state of the misconduct system in the MPS.

“The review highlights issues which we have raised through our own work.

“Our Operation Hotton investigation – which uncovered underlying cultural issues around bullying and discrimination at Charing Cross police station, making colleagues unwilling to report bad behaviour – made 15 learning recommendations which were all accepted by the force.

“And in June, following our joint investigation – alongside the College of Policing and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services – into a super-complaint by the Centre for Women’s Justice, we urged all chief constables to act on our findings that forces needed to improve on how they internally respond to domestic abuse allegations against officers and staff.

“I am encouraged by Sir Mark Rowley’s frank response to Baroness Casey’s findings. The Met now has an opportunity to take positive action to address the issues raised in Baroness Casey’s report and I urge them to do so.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “When I asked the Met to establish this independent review a year ago following a series of shocking scandals involving serving police officers, I was concerned that a serious cultural problem had developed within the Met which was allowing racist, sexist and homophobic behaviour to be downplayed or left unchallenged.

“The interim findings of this review not only confirm my concerns, but reveal a situation even worse than feared.

“It’s clear the Met’s misconduct system is simply not fit for purpose. I now expect nothing less than every single recommendation of this review to be implemented in full, and quickly.

“All misconduct allegations must be acted upon, cases must be resolved much faster and the disproportionality in the way allegations are dealt with must be eliminated.

“The majority of those serving in the Met will be appalled by these latest findings and the decent officers who want to speak out – who have clearly been let down for far too long – must be properly supported.”

He added: “As mayor, I’ve ensured the Met is now set on a path of far-reaching systematic and cultural reform, with the appointment of a new Commissioner who acknowledges the scale of the problems within the Met.

“I want to assure Londoners that I will continue to hold the Met to account as I support Sir Mark in taking urgent action to reform the culture and systems of the Met and to root out all police officers found to be responsible for sexism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying or harassment.”

Susan Hall AM, chair of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, said it was “encouraged by the decision to appoint Baroness Louise Casey to lead a review into culture and standards at the MPS”.

“However, this interim report will do little to reassure Londoners after months of damaging scandals that have engulfed the force,” she added.

“It is appalling that officers are getting away with breaking the law and misconduct. It is letting down Londoners as well as the thousands of dedicated officers in the force, who will be disgusted that this behaviour has been allowed to continue.

“Last week, new Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the committee he will prioritise tackling issues of integrity and standards in the force. We are confident he is aware of the need to root out such behaviour to restore the public’s confidence and trust in the police.

“We await the final report and will continue to raise issues of misconduct and culture with the Commissioner and the force in our regular scrutiny meetings.”

Labour’s London Assembly Policing and Crime spokesperson, Unmesh Desai AM, said: “This is yet more evidence of the challenges facing the Met. The failings of the internal misconduct system are troubling and will rightly shock and worry Londoners.

“Repeat offenders are slipping through the cracks, sexual misconduct is less likely to be dealt with than other offences and black, Asian and minority ethnic officers are dealt with more harshly than white colleagues.

“Something needs to change. Accountability, ensuring that the police can police themselves, is one of the corner stones of rebuilding confidence.

“I trust that the MPS leadership are already working to implement the recommendations in this report, commissioned by the mayor, to re-establish the high standards we expect of our police service.

“At City Hall I will be monitoring the Met’s progress, and also scrutinising how they implement the PEEL report recommendations, at every opportunity.”

Andrew Pepper-Parsons, head of policy at UK whistleblowing charity Protect, said: “It is vital that every police force has an effective whistleblowing culture so that staff feel their concerns about serious misconduct will be dealt with.

“The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) should be promoting this while also providing a safety valve for staff to take their concerns where their force has failed to deal with the issue, or where staff feel they cannot raise it with their managers or supervisors.

“The IOPC receives very low numbers of concerns at present but could play a role in independently investigating serious misconduct issues.”

He added: “The experience that ‘nothing happens’ when misconduct occurs, dissuades officers and staff from reporting misconduct when they see it. In fact, we heard that supervisors and managers are actively dissuading their staff from reporting misconduct, therefore institutionalising mistrust in the system and undermining the Met’s ability to use the misconduct system to set and uphold professional standards.”

Legal charity the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) said: “The Louise Casey report is damning indictment of the Met police and her findings in relation to misogyny and sexual misconduct echo what we have seen in the police super-complaint we submitted two and a half years ago.

“The problem identified in Louise Casey’s report is not just a Met police problem but common to many police forces across England and Wales. However, from the cases we have seen misogyny and racism are endemic within Met.

“Of 165 plus women who contacted us as victims of police-perpetrated abuse, 67 have provided us with detailed accounts of their experiences of being a victim of police misconduct. Of those 67, ten have been the victim of officers within the Met police.

“In addition to inadequate disciplinary processes and the failure to deal with multiple allegations, we note that in many cases following a criminal investigation where no further action is taken, there are frequently very inadequate misconduct investigations if one is conducted at all.

“When there is a criminal investigation of an officer, the matter should go straight to Professional Standards Department for internal misconduct proceedings but often it does not.”

The charity added: “Our findings strongly support Baroness Casey’s concerns about the Met failing to take issues raised seriously and leaving complainants unsupported.

“Many of the women who spoke to us described having to make multiple reports before their cases were investigated.
“We agree with Baroness Casey that complaints against officers are too often being treated like grievances, forcing victims to continually chase for action to be taken, rather than senior officers recognising that it is vital for the integrity of their force that such allegations to be investigated swiftly and rigorously.”

The CWJ said its super-complaint – which highlighted “serious failures by the police to use powers designed to protect victims of domestic violence’ – found “the scale of problems in having police officers investigated by their own force so deep rooted there needs to be a fundamental change to a different system”.

It recommended:
• An external police force to conduct investigations;
• Disciplinary aspects to be overseen by the IOPC;
• A bespoke reporting route to the IOPC so victims do not have to go straight to the force where the suspect has numerous colleagues, contacts, etc; and
• Police officer survivors should be given equal protection to civilian complainants and be given the right to appeal outcomes.