What happened to the Metropolitan Police? Instead of the bravery and personal sacrifice that symbolized its founding nearly two centuries ago, it has taken over a sickening culture of macho bullying.
At worst, this has been epitomized by the monstrous figures of Wayne Couzens, the murderer of Sarah Everard, and the vicious misogynist David Carrick, recently jailed for life for his reign of terror against women.
However, neither Couzens nor Carrick are isolated cases. Instead, a report, released today by Baroness Louise Casey, reveals how the Met’s deep flaws are part of a grotesque pattern of bravado and self-serving cruelty: men in uniform whose contempt for the law is matched only by their disdain for women, gay people and minorities.
Twenty-four years have passed since Sir William Macpherson’s landmark report on the death of Stephen Lawrence.
Despite all the serious talk about the need to end “institutional racism” (a phrase Sir William made part of our language and which reappears in Baroness Casey’s report), discrimination and abuse of power in the Met seem as bad as ever.
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A report, published today by Baroness Louise Casey, reveals how the Met’s deep flaws are part of a grotesque pattern of swaggering and self-serving cruelty.
The report is nothing short of devastating. His verdict is made all the brighter by Casey’s lucid prose and his record of public service.
His review was created in the wake of Couzens’ conviction, and its 363-page length serves as a savage indictment of the Met’s weak leadership, mismanagement, distorted priorities and ill-conceived policies, which have left audiences vulnerable and allowed conflicts to flourish. thugs.
It is a profoundly depressing document but, to me, not surprising. As a former commissioner of the Thames Valley Police, the largest force in the country outside of London, Birmingham and Manchester, I was well aware of the terrible problems at the Met.
During my time in office for nearly a decade beginning in 2012, I could sense that in the sprawling mass of the capital, public trust in the police was evaporating as violent crime worsened, corruption became more widespread, and awakening the triumphant ideology, distorting everything from officer recruitment to the fight against Islamist terrorism.
Trust me, we had our own difficulties in the Thames Valley, especially the activities of Asian grooming gangs. But they paled next to the rot that had clearly infested the Met.
As Baroness Casey’s report demonstrates, the Met has performed dismal on almost every front. Despite leaders’ obsession with ‘diversity’, racism, misogyny and homophobia are rampant, shattering public trust among the many vulnerable who most need an effective police force.
As Baroness Casey writes, “black Londoners are unprotected.” Women are subjected to ‘scandalous treatment and attitudes’. Such beliefs flourish in unhealthy environments, such as at Charing Cross station, where in WhatsApp groups alleged jokes could consist of comments like: “Punch a bird and it will love you: human nature.”
One officer even sent a female colleague a message saying, “I would gladly rape you.” Yet in the face of this kind of vile abuse, discipline is hopelessly inadequate.
Discrimination and abuse of power at the Met look as bad as ever, after Baroness Casey’s review (pictured)
His review was created in the wake of the conviction of Couzens (pictured) and its 363 pages serve as a savage indictment of the Met’s weak leadership, mismanagement, distorted priorities and ill-conceived policies, which have left the public vulnerable. and have allowed thugs to flourish
Just last week it was reported that more than 1,500 officers have been charged with violent crimes against women and girls, but less than 1 percent of them have been fired.
Why has the force lost its way so much? I think part of the answer is that too many of those in high office are products of progressive education promoted by awakened university courses. They are more concerned with social engineering than fighting crime.
Politically correct dogma not only weakens its own authority, but also distorts vital recruitment and promotion policies. The Met should, of course, try to attract more women and ethnic minorities so that its workforce more closely reflects the makeup of the capital.
But that doesn’t mean recruiting new candidates should become an exercise in identity politics box-ticking, as it manifestly has.
In the vacuum created by weak leadership, an inevitable and ugly backlash against the awakening agenda has also been allowed to flourish.
That helps explain a strange paradox: The more the Met’s higher-ups fixate on the awakening, the more intolerant much of its workforce becomes.
It is a profoundly depressing document but, to me, not surprising, writes Anthony Stansfeld. Pictured: Sir Mark Rowley
Maybe the Met is just too big. Unwieldy, filled with bureaucratic empires that have little to do with fighting crime and lacking real accountability, its bloated size is a recipe for waste, corruption and mismanagement.
As someone who has worked for years in business and also served in the Army, where hierarchies reinforce rather than dispel discipline, I have come to the conclusion that the Met must now be broken up into a network of smaller forces, backed by various central forces. units.
Baroness Casey advocates radical restructuring if the Met fails to reform, but I fear any real capacity for change is an illusion. In its current ramshackle state, the force is beyond repair.
A bolder and more urgent plan is needed. He would propose that the Met be divided into eight policemen in London who would concentrate on the basics of neighborhood policing. Meanwhile, there would be a capital-wide headquarters plus three separate units to deal with fraud, organized crime and terrorism.
This change would be supported by two other essential measures: a substantial increase in resources to provide more officers for the front line and the mass dismissal of a large number of employees whose behavior does not meet ethical standards.
Stansfeld has come to the conclusion that the Met should now be broken up into a network of smaller forces, backed by various core units.
A spate of layoffs would transform the climate and send the message that misconduct will not be tolerated.
In 1972, Sir Robert Mark became director of the Met with a mission to root out widespread corruption.
“A good police force is one that catches more thieves than it employs,” he memorably said when he was appointed.
Sir Robert triumphantly accomplished his mission, not least by getting rid of over 500 corrupt officers, including the heads of the Flying Squad and Obscene Publications Squad. We need some of that spirit today; otherwise, the Met will only sink deeper into the mud.
