[ad_1]
London’s police have lost public trust because of deep-seated racism, misogyny and homophobia, according to an independent review commissioned after a young woman was raped and killed by officers.
The Metropolitan Police Service, which has more than 34,000 officers and is the UK’s largest police force, must “reinvent itself” or risk collapse, a report published on Tuesday said.
“It’s not our job as a society to keep ourselves safe from the police. It’s the police’s job to keep us safe as a society,” said Louise Casey, an expert in victims’ rights and social welfare who led the review. “Too many Londoners have now lost faith in the police to do that.”
The findings add to pressure for an overhaul of the Metropolitan police following a series of scandals involving the treatment of women and minorities. In a preliminary report released in October, Casey found that the department failed to properly vet and train officers, and allowed officers to remain on the job even after they were accused of domestic violence or racial harassment.
Part of the problem is that there is a culture of denial in the department, with leaders adopting a “we know best” attitude that leads them to dismiss outside critics, the review found. Funding cuts, along with the decision to close local police stations and effectively end community policing, also contributed to the situation.
Above all this is how the force is managed, not its size, the investigation found.
“The Met was launched as a set of disjointed and competing moving parts, lacking a clear system, purpose or strategy,” the report said. “It runs on a series of uncoordinated and short-term initiatives, long on activity but short on action.”
Sarah Everard
Casey’s review was commissioned after serving officers raped and killed Sarah Everard, a young marketing executive on her way home from a friend’s house in March 2021, sparking a national outcry as women shared their experiences of being threatened or attacked while walking alone.
As hundreds gathered in south London’s Clapham Common to call attention to women’s daily violence, police broke up the rally, saying it was in breach of the COVID-19 lockdown. A video posted on social media showed male officers arresting several women and pulling them away in handcuffs to screams and shouts from onlookers.
But the Everard case is just one in a series of recent scandals at the Metropolitan Police, known as the Met.
Protesters in London are calling for the police commissioner to resign after a woman was seen being dragged by police during protests over the weekend. The initial demonstration began with the killing of Sarah Everard, the alleged killer of a police officer.
In December 2021, two officers were arrested for taking and sharing photos of the bodies of two black women after they were sent to secure the scene where the women were killed. Another officer was later sentenced to life in prison after admitting 48 rapes and several other serious crimes committed over a 17-year period.
The Met has also been accused of homophobia for failing to stop serial killer Stephen Port, who killed four young people over a 15-month period in 2014 and 2015.
Detectives initially did not link the victims, all gay men in their 20s whose bodies were found near Port’s home in east London. They only began investigating the death as a potential homicide after the last victim’s family called for action.
‘De-prioritization’ puts women, girls at risk
Casey’s review found that the department did not take violence against women and girls as seriously as other forms of violence.
The 363-page report also describes how crimes against women and children are investigated due to lack of funds and lack of specially trained officers to handle such cases.
Officers investigating the crime were forced to store rape samples in “overstocked, dilapidated or broken refrigerators and freezers,” because they did not have access to fast-track forensic services, investigators found.
The lunch box in one of the refrigerators destroyed the evidence. Another device was damaged last summer, meaning the evidence was damaged and could not be used in court.
“The de-prioritisation and de-specialization of public protection puts women and children at greater risk than necessary,” the report said. “Despite some outstanding senior officers, an inexperienced workforce working hard to protect children, rape and serious sexual offences.”
Institutional racism, bullying at the Met
But the problem goes beyond the treatment of women and girls.
Twenty-four years after another study found that institutional racism was a key factor in why the Met failed to investigate the murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence, Casey highlighted the fact that the department is still disproportionately white and male.
About 17 percent of London’s police officers are black, Asian or of mixed race, compared with about 10 percent a decade ago, according to the department’s latest statistics. Women account for nearly 31 percent of police officers, up from nearly 25 percent in 2013.
About 40 percent of London’s population is black, Asian or mixed race, according to the 2021 census.
The report found widespread bullying in the department, with one in five staff members with protected characteristics – such as race, sexuality or disability – being a victim.
“Female officers and staff routinely face sexism and misogyny,” the report said.
[ad_2]
Source link