Met report must be watershed moment, says ex-officer

Chantelle Lunt said she was "not shocked" by the Met Police review findings

A former police officer who left the job after experiencing bullying and racism said a damning report into culture at the Metropolitan Police should be a "watershed moment".

The review condemned the force as institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic.

But Chantelle Lunt, who left Merseyside Police in 2018, said she was "not shocked" by the findings.

She has called for similar reviews to take place at forces across the UK.

The Met's Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said while he accepted the "diagnosis" of the report he would not use the expression "institutional racism", describing it as ambiguous and politicised.

Speaking on BBC 5Live Breakfast Ms Lunt said she was "disappointed" the UK's biggest force would not accept it was institutionally racist.

"As a woman and person of colour, we are tired of hearing that," she said.

"You cannot just still fall back on it's a few bad officers or it's a few bad apples. The whole orchard is rotten and they need root and branch reform."

Ms Lunt said she experienced misogyny and racism at Merseyside Police between 2017 and 2018

Ms Lunt, who joined Merseyside Police as a trainee, claimed she was the victim of bullying by other officers and experienced institutional racism and misogyny.

She said in once incident she was denied a toilet break for six hours by a male officer when she was on her period and said when she raised concerns about the issues she was facing she "became the problem".

"The culture protects the perpetrators and protects the 'bad apples'," she said.

"Those who are actually brave enough to speak out then become the problem."

She said after raising concerns she became the target of bullying and believed such standards of behaviour would not be accepted in any other profession.

"I wasn't prepared to work in that environment. I wasn't prepared to be be part of that culture. I knew I'd done everything in my power to call it out," she said.

"If my voice had no power in the force I wad not going to to be compliant in that culture. I was not going to let that culture change me.

"We need to look at all forces because if this is the watershed moment that all police forces have to reform, we can't allow other forces across the UK to say its just a Met problem."

Merseyside Police's chief constable has "categorically" denied the force is institutionally racist following recent claims by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

In a new statement, Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley said the force worked closely with Ms Lunt "to address the issues raised and provide her with reassurance and confidence to continue in her probationary training period, and ultimately towards a long and successful career in policing".

He continued: "We regret that Ms Lunt left the force and felt unable to continue to pursue her chosen career.

"I am sorry that she experienced behaviour that was unacceptable and for that I apologise to Chantelle."

He added the the force's Professional Standards Department reviewed her allegations "which resulted in actions and learning being implemented".

Ms Lunt said on reading Baroness Casey's report she "felt vindicated that someone was putting down on paper that I had seen with my own eyes".

"We are past the point of papering over the cracks and saying we've done a training course and we've fixed it," she said.

She also called for external organisations to be in charge of misconduct investigations rather than organisations within the police which she said is the force "marking its own homework".

"This has to be the moment," she said, "we really need to see deep rooted change."