London police are “institutionally” racist, misogynistic and homophobic, a damning new report on Tuesday denounces for Scotland Yard, already in crisis after a series of scandals, prompting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call for a “change of culture”.
“We must clean up” the London police, “it is time for a radical change”, affirmed on the BBC Louise Casey, the author of this independent report of 363 pages which made the front page of the British media.
It’s a “broken and rotten” font, summarizes the newspaper DailyMail. Scotland Yard “has lost the confidence of the public”, retains The Daily Telegraph.
“The police must restore confidence in their services,” reacted Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “We need a culture change.”
This report was commissioned after the murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old Londoner who was raped and killed by a police officer, Wayne Couzens, who arrested her under false pretence in 2021 as she was walking home. This murder traumatized the British.
The “Met Police” — the Metropolitan Police, the nation’s largest force with more than 43,000 officers and staff — is mired in a series of sex scandals and crimes, fueling a serious crisis of confidence.
Louise Casey, member of the House of Lords and who has held several positions of responsibility in the Ministry of the Interior, had already published a preliminary report last October denouncing Scotland Yard’s laxity in the face of racism and sexism.
In the introduction to the document published on Tuesday, she describes a police “institutionally […] racist, sexist and homophobic”.
According to her, violence against women and girls has “not been taken seriously in terms of resources and priorities”.
The long investigation depicts in particular how evidence in rape cases (urine or blood samples for example) could not be used after being stored in overloaded refrigerators – sometimes closed with straps – or outright broke down.
Furthermore, “despite the presence of a few experienced senior officers, it is an inexperienced and overburdened staff dealing with child protection, rape and serious sexual offences,” notes Ms. Casey.
“People of color are over-policed and under-protected,” she also accuses.
She points out that women working in the police are “victims of daily sexism” and that a “deep-seated homophobia” reigns within the Met.
For Louise Casey, “this report is the first to lay bare all the shortcomings with regard to Londoners, black Londoners, women, their own agents”.
But she is worried that it will not be followed by the “deep reforms which are essential”. She describes a force “that shows little humility”, reluctant “to admit that there are problems”.
This new document is published almost 25 years after the Macpherson report, commissioned after the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence. He had already concluded in 1999 to an “institutional racism” within the police.
Repeated scandals
The Everard case was followed by several other scandals and reports exposing racism and sexism in the London police. Under pressure, Chief Constable Cressida Dick eventually resigned in early 2022.
The crisis of confidence was further aggravated when David Carrick, a 48-year-old police officer, pleaded guilty in January to 24 rapes and multiple sexual assaults against twelve women between 2003 and 2020. He terrorized his victims by highlighting his functions.
The Met said at the time that 1,633 cases of alleged sexual assault or domestic violence involving more than 1,000 officers and agents over the past ten years would be re-examined.
Mrs. Casey notes that she “cannot be sure” that there are no more criminals such as Wayne Couzens and David Carrick in the London police.
“This is a very disturbing report,” admitted London police chief Mark Rowley. “One cannot read it without being upset, embarrassed and humiliated”.
“We are going to do everything we can to reform and change” the London police, he continued, promising to rid the force of all its “toxic individuals”.
“The evidence is overwhelming,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan. “It is in all of our interests to ensure that policing changes, from the bottom up.”