London’s Metropolitan Police is guilty of “institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia” and should be disbanded if it cannot undergo a full overhaul, according to one of the most scathing reviews of Britain’s police force.
Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned by the Met to investigate the culture in Britain’s largest police force after the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a serving officer, in 2021.
After an interim review in October, the final report published on Tuesday revealed severe institutional flaws fueled by a culture of denial, which it described as “the biggest obstacle to reform”.
Casey found that the Met was guilty of racism, misogyny and sexism both in the way officers and staff were treated within the organization and in the way the community was policed. It is failing women and children, failing to protect society from police officers who abuse women and failing to police themselves, he concluded.
Calling for a complete overhaul to restore the confidence of Londoners, Casey said the Met, without change, should be stripped of its national functions including counter-terrorism surveillance.
“Everyone at the Met . . . now needs to recognize that their failure goes beyond the actions of ‘bad apples’ officers,” he wrote. “On top of the unimaginable individual crimes and the series of horrific events that have plagued the service in recent years, the way the Met responded to them is also symptomatic of a wider malaise in an organization that has fundamentally lost its way.”
The Met cannot assume, they say, that they have the consent of Londoners – the basis for the British policing model from the 19th century – to police.
Sir Mark Rowley, who took the helm in September last year, has been under strong pressure to restore integrity and confidence in the force, and improve the dismal record in tackling crime after a string of scandals.
The latest saw David Carrick last month sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for raping and sexually abusing 12 women over 17 years. Carrick and Couzens served together in the Diplomatic and Parliamentary Protection Unit (DPPU) – which Casey identified as the “dark corner” of the force.
Power, the review found, is also not representative of the capital. While 46 per cent of the population is from a black, Asian or other ethnic minority background, 82% of Met officers are white and 71% are male.
There is evidence of widespread bullying and discrimination against minority groups in the force. “Female officers and staff routinely face sexism and misogyny,” the report said.
The report also highlights the impact of budget cuts, with Met spending now estimated at £700m – a real 18 per cent drop compared to 2013. Restructuring, it added, has led to the closure of 126 police stations in London.
Despite vows from the Met to make violence against women and girls a priority, Casey said public protection teams were suffering the most severe cuts in support, with overstretched and inexperienced staff having to contend with “overstuffed, dilapidated or damaged fridges to store evidence”.
The review calls for the creation of a dedicated women’s protection service, a new children’s strategy, and the restoration of sexual and domestic abuse services as specialist functions.
Other recommendations include restoring a visible police presence in neighborhoods, and reforming abusive practices and discriminatory recruitment processes. Casey also called for the Met to disband its “dark corners” unit.
In response to the report, Rowley said he had “no illusions” about its importance and that he and his team would do “everything . . . humanly possible” to implement its recommendations.
“This event has damaged London’s confidence in the police and caused us to look hard at ourselves,” he said, adding that the Casey report should act as a catalyst for reform.
But he refused to endorse his ruling that the Met was not only institutionally racist – as Sir William Macpherson’s landmark inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1999 found – but also institutionally misogynistic and homophobic.
Rowley argued against breaking the Met up, saying the move risked causing more problems than it would fix in “large, complex” cities such as London. He also said that the DPPU cannot be abolished overnight due to the nature of its work but that he will “radically and as quickly as possible” change its culture.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the Met had “a lot more to do” and they would “continue to catch up.” [Rowley] for account to send. . . change wholesale”.