Met Police: Women and children failed by 'boys' club', review finds

Women and children have been failed by the Metropolitan Police, with racism, misogyny, and homophobia at the heart of the force, a blistering review says.

Baroness Casey says a "boys' club" culture is rife and the force could be dismantled if it does not improve.

Her year-long review condemns systemic failures, painting a picture of a force where rape cases were dropped because a freezer containing key evidence broke.

The Met's Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted "we have let Londoners down".

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The report has prompted a strong reaction, with the mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence saying the force was "rotten to the core".

Home Secretary Suella Braverman warned it could take years to address some challenges, but was confident Sir Mark and his team would deliver the change the public expects.

Baroness Casey was appointed to review the force's culture and standards after the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving police officer Wayne Couzens, in 2021.

During the course of her review, another Met officer, David Carrick, was convicted of a series of rapes, sexual offences and torture of women.

The 363-page report condemns the force as institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, referencing racist officers and staff, routine sexism, and "deep-seated" homophobia.

But Sir Mark told Radio 4's Today programme that while he accepted the "diagnosis" of the report he would not use the expression "institutional racism", describing it as ambiguous and politicised.

He said "hundreds" of "problematic" officers have been identified since he took over the force, and said the report has to be "a new beginning".

Baroness Casey said the capital "no longer has a functioning neighbourhood policing service" and policing by consent was broken, especially for "communities of colour", who are "over-policed and under-protected".

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The report says leadership teams at the top of the Met have been in denial for decades, and there has been a systemic failure to root out discriminatory and bullying behaviour.

It says the force, the biggest in the UK, has failed to protect the public from officers who abuse women and Baroness Casey said she could not rule out more officers like Couzens and Carrick being in the Met.

Teams tasked with tackling domestic abuse are understaffed, overworked and inexperienced, despite cases doubling in 10 years, it said.

The Met has not made its publicly-stated policy to crack down on abusers an "operational reality", the report found.

Baroness Casey told the BBC that rape detectives are working with insufficient resources while "the guys that hold the firearms get any toy they want".

One officer told the review the Met's rape detection rates were now so low "you may as well say it is legal in London".

Floral tributes and messages were left at a memorial site at Clapham Common Bandstand, following the murder of Sarah Everard, in 2021

The report says that discrimination "is often ignored" and complaints "are likely to be turned against" ethnic minority officers, to the point where black officers are 81% more likely to be in the misconduct system than white colleagues.

It concludes: "Deep in its culture it is uncomfortable talking about racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of discrimination."

The report also reveals:

• Dilapidated fridges were repeatedly found overpacked, and when a freezer broke down during last summer's heatwave the evidence inside had to be destroyed, meaning cases of alleged rape were dropped

• Discrimination towards female colleagues; bags of urine being thrown at cars; male officers flicking each other's genitals; and sex toys being placed in coffee mugs

• Initiation rituals included people being urinated on in the shower

• One Sikh officer had his beard trimmed; another had his turban put in a shoe box; and a Muslim officer found bacon in his boots

• Almost one in five of Met employees surveyed had personally experienced homophobia

Baroness Casey said austerity had "disfigured" the Met, and pressures like court backlogs and London's expanding population have put the force under further strain.

But she says not enough had changed since the 1999 Macpherson report, published after Stephen Lawrence's murder, which labelled the Met "institutionally racist".

Baroness Doreen Lawrence said the force has had almost 30 years since her son's death and the recognition of institutional racism by Sir William Macpherson to put its house in order.

"It has not done so, either because it does not want to or it does not know how to," she added.

In a Commons statement, Ms Braverman said there have been "serious failures of culture, leadership and standards".

She said it is vital that the law-abiding public "do not face a threat from the police themselves", and that officers not fit to wear a uniform are "driven out".

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said she was concerned her counterpart had delivered a "dangerously complacent" statement by "astonishingly" setting out no action.

She called a lack of mandatory requirements for vetting and training underpinned by law a "disgrace", and urged Ms Braverman to ensure any officer under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual assault is automatically suspended.

The review made 16 recommendations, including for:

• A new team to reform how it deals with misconduct cases, and an immediate overhaul of vetting

• Greater independent oversight and scrutiny, regular progress updates overseen by the mayor, and independent progress reviews after two and five years

• A process to "apologise for past failings and rebuild consent"

• The Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit - which Couzens and Carrick had been members of - to be disbanded in its current form, and all firearms officers re-vetted

• A dedicated women's protection service and a broad new strategy for protecting children, including preventing "adultification"- where black children are treated as adults and as a threat

• A fundamental reset of stop and search in London, including introducing an independent monitor

If sufficient progress is not made, dividing the Met into national, specialist and London responsibilities should be considered, Baroness Casey concluded.

Asked if he would tell his daughters they could trust the police, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told BBC Breakfast: "I need the answer to that question to be 'yes' and at the moment trust in the police has been hugely damaged."

Responding to the report, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Sir Mark should "go further and faster" to uncover the Met's systemic problems.

He said: "The biggest danger today is that this just becomes another report."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said today was "one of the darkest days in the 200-year history" of the Met, but he was not surprised as it chimed with his own personal and professional experiences.

He insisted the force did not need to be broken up, but said systemic issues needed addressing.

Four groups - the Runnymede Trust, Inquest, Liberty and Stonewall - said they "stand united in our call for the roll back of the policing powers" of the Met, and it was increasingly clear communities "do not consent to the violent, predatory and discriminatory policing that we are currently offered".