By Tony O’Reilly-
Hundreds of Met Police officers accused of sexual offences and domestic violence face being drummed out of the force in the widest-ranging purge against rogue cops in history.
Almost 200 officers named as bullies and sex abusers over the last 10 years are being referred for risk assessment and could have their vetting removed.
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In a major move to eradicate bad cops, Mark Rawley has also vowed to remove a further 700 cops that are being reinvestigated over historic sex and domestic abuse claims with witnesses being interviewed again in some cases.
It follows the damning report from Baroness Casey which condemned the Met as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
The report also revealed that metropolitan police officers suspected of serious criminal offences including sexual assault and domestic abuse have been allowed to escape justice, a damning review has found, with the force’s leader admitting that hundreds of racist, women-hating and corrupt officers have been left in the ranks.
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Massive failings in how Britain’s biggest force roots out wrongdoing were exposed in a report by Louise Casey, which found “systemic” racism in the Met, and misogyny.
One officer faced 11 claims including sexual assault, harassment and domestic abuse, but remains in the force, the report found.
Long before that report, The Eye Of Media.Com had been behind the scenes pressuring The Met, The Home Office and The Ministry Of Justice to address its rotten den of racist police cops in the force.
It led to a clash between representatives of this publication and irresponsible staff at the Home Office’s press office last October, which led to our calls being dropped on three consecutive occasions. A formal complaint was later made to the Head of the Press Office, Craig Saunders, and the Director of Communications, Robert Hall.
A recent poll by the BBC revealed a massive trust in the Met Police.
Of all those questioned for the survey, 42% said they “totally distrusted” the Met, while 47% of female respondents said they did not have trust in the force
Anti-corruption busters have now discovered 161 serving Met officers have criminal records – around one in 200 cops in the London force.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has vowed to expel any officer with a previous conviction, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Sir Mark Rowley also plans to drive out bad apples from the Met by withdrawing their vetting in a legal first.
A landmark review into the Met’s standards and culture last week branded the force institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynist.
Sir Mark said: “The most urgent thing, if you like, is for us to remove the cancer from the body and that’s what this is about, that first step.”
He outlined “troubling” figures emerging from his action plan to tackle rogue cops in a letter today to Home Secretary Suella Braverman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Met currently has 144 cops suspended from duties in the Met and 701 on restricted duties, which Sir Mark admitted is impinging on service to the public.
Resources have also been taken from the counter-terrorism and serious crime commands to assist a beefed up anti-corruption command with the task of investigating cops.
Sir Mark compared the crackdown to his predecessor Sir Robert Mark’s war on corrupt CID detectives in the 1970’s.
He added that his war on rogue cops is the widest-ranging clampdown in the Met’s history because of the sheer numbers of personnel being investigated.
Sir Mark wrote: “Not only have we increased our DPS by 150 people, but the scale and urgency of this work has meant diverting officers from other missions such as serious and organised crime and counter terrorism.
“Over the last three months we have had, on average, 90 additional officers and staff from these areas supporting DPS.
“The shared determination has been seen through the excess of volunteers.
“We have taken this decision because we cannot succeed in any policing mission unless we resolve these issues as urgently as possible.”
In a briefing to reporters at New Scotland Yard, Sir Mark added: “We need to be doing this for women and girls so they know they can trust us.”
The major clampdown follows a succession of scandals with serious vetting failures featuring in the cases of Met predators Wayne Couzens and David Carrick.
Both worked as armed officers in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit.
Couzens, who kidnapped raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, had a history of flashing offences.
Serial rapist Carrick had been accused on nine previous occasions of domestic violence and sexual abuse before he was brought to justice.
Following the eventual capture of Carrick, checks were carried out on all Met officers and civil staff in a project codenamed Operation Onxy.
It revealed 1,131 serving Met employees – around one in 50 of the workforce – have been accused of domestic and sexual offences in the last 10 years.
They have now been reviewed with 196 being referred for management measures, 689 cases being reassessed and no further action being taken with the remaining 246 staff.
Other actions being taken include a vast trawl of the national police database, which has so far linked 38 officers and civil staff to misconduct issues and discovered 55 have criminal associates.
Those figures are expected to rise steeply with only a fifth of the Met’s 50,000-strong workforce being screened so far.
The Police National Computer has also flagged up the 161 employees with criminal records.
Of that number, 76 were for serious traffic offences including drink driving and careless driving.
Another 49 had convictions for crimes of dishonesty or violence.
Eight cops committed offences while they were serving in the force – three for sex offences – and were allowed to keep their jobs.
Sir Mark added thathe is considering tightening rules around employees with criminal convictions.
He said he wanted to ban anyone prosecuted for anything other than “the most trivial matters” or offences committed under the age of 18.
In his letter, Sir Mark also revealed how 1,000 people have now called a hotline set up with Crimestoppers in November last year to report alleged bent cops.
He said 350 of the reports were being pursued with overt and covert investigations, drug-testing and building intelligence on suspects.
A fifth of the calls related to officers serving in forces out London.
Sir Mark said: “There are tens of thousands of hard working men and women in the Met who serve London with honour and integrity.
“They are tired of being let down by the hundreds who we need to identify and remove.
“It is clear that the vast majority of our officers and staff are determined to confront those who have corrupted our integrity.
“I have seen and heard this repeatedly in discussions with those on our frontline. This is our collective fight.
“Their pride in policing is undiminished but it has been challenged. I have been hugely encouraged by their willingness to step forward in these testing times.
“I said we were serious about this and I meant it. This is the strongest doubling down on standards in the Met for 50 years.”
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Met’s rank and file Police Federation branch, said: “We will not protect any officers who have acted inappropriately.
“But we will support and represent genuine officers who need our help.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: ‘’Sir Mark’s update on the work to root out unfit officers demonstrates the scale of this challenge but I have confidence in his plan to turnaround the Met and ensure the force is delivering for the public.
“I am also driving forward work to review the police dismissals process to ensure the system is effective at removing officers who fall below the standards we expect.”
Sir Mark appears to be on his way to making his mark as a police commissioner, in a long awaited move.
As things stand, he may well just outperform his predecessors in the job.
He deserves to be applauded.
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