By Gavin Mackintosh-
Mayor Sadiq Khan has failed the British public by not successfully ensuring the “immediate removal” of officers serving in the Met Police, following a string of misogyny and racism scandals.
The Eye Of Media.Com has had a number of communications before Baroness Casey’s report highlighting institutional racism, misogyny and Homophobia in the Metropolitan police, but has bene met with mere assurances that Mr. Khan was doing his best, when in fact it was not enough.
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Although the Mayor has sought to address racism in the Met, he has fallen short of doing enough to root out the persistent show of racism among officers. Persistent racism and misogyny in the police force has brought the met to disrepute over the years.
Mr Khan last year asked the Home Secretary to so more to reform the police force, and has written articles expressing his desire for a restoration of trust in the police force, but never quite pushed the boundaries to achieve change.
Officers work for the Crown, rather than directly for the force, and normal employment rules, including on dismissals, even if a serious offence has been committed, do not seem to apply to them.
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Khan was asked last year to table the idea of pushing for the prosecution of racist police officers whose racist action had met the threshold of criminality. He was also presented with evidence of cases where such necessary action had not occurred.
When the recommendation for prosecution of police officers whose conduct met the threshold for prosecution , Sadiq Khan’s representatives acknowledged the validity off the request.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told this publication they could very much see our point, and highlighted various measures Mr Khan has taken to improve the quality of the police force.
”I see your point on this issue and there are many steps the Mayor has taken in combating corruption in the Met”, he said. There was no direct reference to instructing the enforcement of legal statute.
There has been no official comment addressing this issue or providing a coherent explanation as to why the present state of affairs must remain the way it currently is.
Mr Khan’s remit encompasses acting in the best interest of Londoners to ensure equal treatment and the upholding of the rule of law at all times.
The Mayor of London was last year hurled before the committee to discuss his role in the resignation of Cressica Dick. He described a critical report about his handling of the matter as prejudicial.
Khan was first approached by this publication following a report that too many cases where being pushed to disciplinary panels.
In November 2022, a report, from the London Assembly police and crime committee, has called on the mayor to push for a change in the rules which prevent police officers being immediately dismissed.
Chairman Susan Hall AM, the Chairman of the Police and Crime Committee at the time said: “The Met Police and its thousands of dedicated officers do vital work to keep Londoners safe.
“But too many disturbing scandals involving the force have eroded trust and confidence in the police among Londoners and the mayor must act to address this.”
Ms Hall last year also said that ”Mr Khan must carry the can for the fact that Londoners’ trust in policing hit its lowest point since 2016 when he was elected as London’s Mayor.
The report also said conduct cases are “unnecessarily taken forward” to disciplinary panels and says the Home Office should “review the threshold” in order to decrease this.
That report came after the Met has been rocked by scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard, the strip-search of Child Q, and officers caught exchanging highly offensive messages.
In response, the City Hall committee launched an investigation into the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and how police complaints are handled.
Their report said: “There is a highly fraught relationship between Met officers and the IOPC.
“Accusations and disagreements between both parties risk further eroding trust in both the Met and the conduct and complaints system.”
Ms Hall added: “[We are] concerned the police complaints system is further damaging the public’s perception of the police and Baroness Louise Casey’s recent review supports this.
“Our investigation found it to be a frustratingly slow and complicated system of lengthy investigations causing real pain for victims, complainants and officers.
“The highly fraught relationship between Met officers and the IOPC is unlikely to be helping matters and we hope they will work collaboratively in implementing the recommendations.”
She continued: “The thousands of dedicated officers in the force are entitled to a clear, transparent and effective conduct and complaints system that delivers for Londoners.
“The Mayor and government should take forward our recommendations as soon as possible.”
That report said nothing about following up prosecutions against racist police officers, despite the Mayor Of London being aware from The Eye Of Media that many of the racist and homophobic offences committed by serving police officers past the statutory test of a hate crime.
A spokesperson for the mayor of London at the time told this publication : “The mayor has led the way in ensuring the Met is now on a path of far-reaching systematic and cultural reform, with the new commissioner acknowledging the scale of the problems within the Met and taking action to address them.
“The mayor has also asked the home secretary to take urgent action to reform police regulations governing misconduct to help raise standards in the police, and he has been clear that the police need more power over misconduct processes, which is so vital to restoring the trust and confidence of Londoners.
“Sadiq will continue to make the case for this and hold the Met to account so that progress is made. This must include rooting out all police officers found to be responsible for unacceptable behaviour, such as sexism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying or harassment.
“The mayor has also been clear that, following the recent Baroness Casey review, the Met has to make urgent changes to fix its existing misconduct system, which is simply not fit for purpose.
“That is why he is committed to making sure the Met implements every single recommendation of this review and that all future misconduct allegations are acted upon quickly and cases are resolved much faster.
“The Mayor is doing everything he can to support Sir Mark and he has welcomed the Met’s new anti-corruption and abuse unit, which is working to clean up the force.”
“Yet our organisation is being undermined by corrupting behaviours that have gone unchallenged and have been allowed to multiply.
“While the focus of this report is on misconduct, it tells a serious story about our culture. We need to radically overhaul how our organisation is set up, and instil our values in everything we do.”
Clearly the Mayor was not doing enough, because no measure he had taken or pushed or came anywhere near those about to be undertaken by new police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley.
Sir Mark has vowed to kick out hundreds of police officers with criminal records and review cases of officers who have escaped the consequences o serious complaints made about them in the past.
Sadiq Khan had been critical of Cressica Dick enough to force her resignation, but could have done better by strongly impressing on her to take similar steps to that being taken by Sir Mark Rowley now. There are no records of the Mayor of London calling for police officers with criminal records to be ejected from the force, nor a powerful call for those who have escaped sufficient disciplinary action for misconduct to be reviewed.
All we saw him do was call for their speedy removal from the force.
Prosecutions are likely to form the basis of a deterrence against the kind o hate crime that have persisted in the force.
Sadiq Khan has been quite vocal in his pursuit for reforms, but most members of the public surveyed and asked whether he has not gone far enough, has concluded that he has not.
The Mayor of London’s office was contacted for comment.
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