Baroness Louise Casey’s final report into the Metropolitan Police has been published and finds severe institutional failings across the organisation that will require radical reform to resolve.
The Crossbench Peer was commissioned to review the culture and standards of London’s police service in the wake of the rape, abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, and a series of other scandals that have shattered public confidence in the force.
Following a year-long investigation, in her final and full report, Baroness Casey has laid bare deep and wide shortcomings across the force, including that:
- The Met is failing women and children.
- After a decade of austerity, frontline policing has been deprioritised and degraded.
- There is institutional racism, sexism and homophobia, inside the organisation in terms of how officers and staff are treated, and outside the organisation in terms of how communities are policed.
The report says that accusations of institutional homophobia, institutional misogyny and institutional racism are not new to the Met.
Following a series of incidents and scandals, these accusations have only grown in volume in recent years. This Review was, in part, commissioned to look at how far discrimination is a feature of Met culture, and has found it is a very strong feature – and a symptom of some of the deeper leadership, management and system failings.
The report says:
“For the Met, tackling discrimination is both a legal imperative, since it is an organisation that seeks to uphold the law regarding equality, and a functional imperative, to promote effective policing and provide a good service to all Londoners. If the Met is to gain consent for policing, and prevent and tackle crime effectively, it has to understand and be able to communicate with a whole range of diverse groups, and cannot discriminate against any individuals or sections of society.
“Any loss of trust, confidence and consent resulting from discrimination has a fundamental impact on policing by consent and, therefore, how well the Met serves London. To deliver the police service London needs, the Met also needs to ensure it can recruit and retain the most talented officers and staff from all backgrounds. People are unlikely to join the Met if they think they will face discrimination at work. Those who do join will be far more likely to leave quickly if they face discrimination, and less likely to recommend the Met as a good career. While discrimination is, of course, a feature of many institutions and wider society, this should not inhibit the Met from tackling the problems that exist in their own organisation.”
Responding to the Review, a spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said:
“We welcome the publication of Baroness Casey’s review of culture and standards at the Metropolitan Police. It is a hugely significant report, both for those working in the force, and of course the public they serve. The law is clear: no one should be subjected to harassment or discrimination at work or in any part of our society.
“As an employer and a public body, the Met must fulfil its statutory duty to protect its employees and the public. In 2016 we investigated unlawful harassment, discrimination and victimisation at the Met. In November last year we wrote to Baroness Casey, detailing the recommendations of our investigation and offering our support.
“It’s very disappointing and disturbing to read that some of the issues highlighted in our 2016 report are still evident within the Met today. We will be carefully considering the contents of this report in detail, and we may consider taking further steps, including regulatory action.”
Baroness Casey said:
“Everyone within the Met now needs to recognise that its failings go well beyond the actions of ‘bad apple’ officers. My report makes clear that, on top of the unimaginable crimes of individuals and the shocking series of events that have hit the service in recent years, the way in which the Met has responded to them is also a symptom of a wider malaise in an organisation that has fundamentally lost its way.
“It is fixable if the Met recognises the true scale of the challenge in front of it, with drastic and effective action. The Met must be prepared to accept stronger outside challenge and scrutiny. It needs strong leadership and all its officers and staff to be behind the changes required. It needs a women’s protection service, a new children’s strategy and neighbourhood policing teams back on the streets. It must move quickly towards looking like the brilliantly diverse city it polices, end its discriminatory practices and earn the trust of all communities. And it must be prepared to confront and remove those who won’t accept the basic standards of a modern, 21st century police service. Decent police officers deserve nothing less. London deserves nothing less.”