Met Police needs to root out ‘several hundred’ officers to repair image, says author of damning report
The embattled Met Police needs to root out several hundred officers who shouldn’t be in uniform, Baroness Louise Casey said following publication of her blistering report on the institutional failings of the force.
Casey’s report branded the Met Police “institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic” and warned killer and rapist cops like Wayne Couzens and David Carrick could still be working for the force.
She told City Hall this morning that the Met needed to “earn back” the public’s trust and restore its reputation.
Asked how many officers the Met Police would need to remove, she said: “We’re not talking hundreds, we’re talking about several hundreds, would be my estimation.”
Her comments came in the wake of reaction to her review, which called for a complete overhaul of the force, and warned that if changes are not implemented it may need to be broken up.
But she said the new leadership team has made some progress.
“There is a deep recognition by the new management, of the commissioner and the deputy commissioner, that things need to change, and specifically in those dark areas where behaviours are just of the barometer,” Casey said.
“People have tried to do it before… other senior people have gone into those units at quite senior levels but they’ve been overwhelmed. Two people cannot a culture change,” she said.
She advised the Met Police it would need to bring in people from outside the organisation to help embed a new culture thorough structural changes.
“There’s a huge level of cynicism within their own workforce,” Casey said.