Report finds London’s Met Police ‘racist, misogynist, homophobic’
An independent review was commissioned after a young woman was raped and murdered by a serving officer.
Britain’s largest police force is institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, according to an independent study conducted after a young woman was raped and murdered by a serving officer.
The Metropolitan Police Service, which has more than 34,000 officers, must “change itself” or risk being broken up, the report published Tuesday said.
It has failed to protect the public from officers who abuse women, organizational changes have put women and children at greater risk, and female officers and staff routinely experience sexism, the report said.
It found that there are racist officers and staff and that there is a “deeply rooted homophobia” in the organization.
Baroness Louise Casey’s review, commissioned after the murder of Sarah Everard, is “rigorous, stern and unforgiving,” she said.
Chief Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he accepts the “diagnosis” of bias in policing but would not use the term institutionally as he sees it as politicized and ambiguous.
Baroness Casey said she was disappointed he would not accept the term, but said she will wait to see what action the force takes in the coming weeks and months.
The finding that the police are institutionally racist echoes that of the 1999 Macpherson Inquiry, which came after the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the appalling failures in the Met’s investigation of his death. Lawrence, 18, bled to death after being stabbed in April 1993 by a gang of white youths in an unprovoked attack as they waited for a bus in South East London.
Five people were initially cleared of the crime after a police investigation was so bungled that it led to Macpherson. Since then, the force has remained largely white and male, the review found.
The Met was also accused of homophobia for failing to stop serial killer Stephen Port after he took the life of his first victim and then killed three more men, but the co-ordinators denied there was a problem.
‘Lost trust in police’
Relatives of the victims have called for a public inquiry into the police in response to the report.
“It is not our job as a public to protect ourselves from the police. It is the job of the police to keep us safe as a public,” said Casey, a victim rights and social welfare expert who led the review. “Far too many Londoners have now lost faith in the police to do that.”
The 363-page report also found that violence against women and girls is not taken as seriously as other forms of violence.
It said there is widespread bullying at the Met, with one-fifth of staff with protected characteristics – for example race, sexuality or disability – being victims.
“Female officers and staff routinely encounter sexism and misogyny,” the report said. “The Met has not protected its female employees or members of the public from domestic violence police officers or those who abuse their position for sexual purposes.
“Despite the Met saying violence against women and girls is a priority, it is treated differently from ‘serious violence’.
“In practice, this means it’s not taken as seriously in terms of resources and prioritization.”
The report concluded that there are “systemic and fundamental problems in the way the Met is run” and the problem with the force is not size, but “inadequate management”.
The review made 16 recommendations and said the Met, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Home Office should implement the changes to “create a radically improved new London Metropolitan Police Service”.