Met crackdown on rogue cops will NOT focus on racism
The Metropolitan police will not be looking at officers accused of racism in its plans to root out rogue officers.
Following the damning Casey report which revealed institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Met, Commissioner Mark Rowley stated that 200 officers could face the boot.
Metropolitan staff accused of sex crimes and domestic abuse are having their previous allegations and disciplinary hearings re-examined to determine whether they should have been sacked.
As part of the plans to root out bad apples 90 or so staff from serious crime and counter terror operations will help identify and investigate suspect officers.
However, while Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley conceded it was "likely" racial problems exist, the current initiative, Operation Onyx will not extend to officers previously accused of racism.
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That lack of focus on the issue plaguing the Met has been slammed as a ‘failure to take racism seriously' following Baroness Casey’s damning report.
Sir Mark Rowley says he wants to root out officers and bring more trust, less crime and high standards (PA)Sir Mark said: Operation Onyx is a really important piece of work to identify risk related to officers who have been the subject of sexual offence or domestic abuse allegations.
“It has identified a significant number of cases where further investigation is required.
“We recognise that if we have identified shortcomings in one area, it is likely there will be shortcomings in other areas too, including race.
“We are looking at how we can broaden our approach to address this while recognising the need to manage the already unprecedented demand on our resources in Professional Standards.”
President of the Black Police Association (BPA) Andy George expressed his ‘disappointment’ in the Commissioner's approach.
Andy George of the BPA says that racism is being overlookedHe said: “It’s disappointing as always. Racism needs to be given the place that it deserves.
“Trust from Black Londoners is as low as females and it needs to be seen in the same light.”
Former Met police superintendent Leroy Logan, who served in the force for 30 years, also attacked the omission of racism from the crackdown.
Mr Logan said: “The fact they will overlook racist officers is an absolute scandal.
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Former Police Superintendent Leroy Logan served in the Met for 30 years and says that the institution has had a race problem for decades (Leroy Logan)“[Sir Mark Rowley] can’t take it seriously because he can’t take the term institutional racism.
“It’s not surprising. It just shows you the scale of the problem.
“There’s nothing he’s said to reassure me. He was around when this toxic culture was developing.”
In the bombshell report which came a month before the anniversary of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 , Baroness Casey wrote that the Met was institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic.
Stephen Lawrence was brutally murdered by racist thugs but the Macpherson report found that the investigation into his death was 'marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership' (PA)An investigation into the teenager’s murder by racist thugs found the Met Police to be "marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism, and a failure of leadership", following the Macpherson report.
The report defined institutional racism as “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin."
However, the Commissioner has refused to use the term institutional racism stating that it was ‘unhelpful’ and has ‘different interpretations’ he told Sky News.
Gary Dobson, left, and David Norris, right, the two men convicted of murdering black teenager Stephen Lawrence (CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE/AFP vi)But former Director of Policing for London and Chair Alliance of Police Accountability Lee Jasper slammed the decision not to focus on racism.
Mr Jasper said: “What we're seeing is a catastrophic failure of the Metropolitan Police Service to prioritise the issue of racism and racist officers.
“Londoners will be absolutely shocked, angered and perplexed.
“What they're basically saying is, 'oh, we're a bit busy at the moment, we may be able to get back to you later.'
“They could reallocate resources so it's a political decision, ultimately.
Baroness Casey found the Met to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic (PA)“The normal response to issues such as this of great importance is to reallocate resources.
“Resources to the area that needs greater capacity. Not to say, ‘well, we'll do this first and we you know, we may get back to that later.’”
The Met has faced a litany of scandals some of which have been brought to light through watchdog reviews, social media and video recording.
In December 2021 two Met officers Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for taking photos of two murdered women, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman. and sharing them in a WhatsApp group containing Wayne Couzens.
Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were tragically stabbed to death (SWNS)Again in February 2022, a watchdog report identified racist, sexist and homophobic messages sent on WhatsApp among officers based at Charing Cross police station between 2016 and 2018.
In March 2022, a Child safeguarding report revealed that a 15-year-old black schoolgirl was strip-searched by police while on her period after she was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.
As well as the stop and search of Olympic athlete Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo Dos Santos, while their three-month baby sat in the car.
Recently a report by the Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza revealed that children as young as eight had been stripped search and that over with over a third were black boys with black children six times more likely to be searched.
The Met declined to comment on the criticism of racism not being focused on as part of the crackdown of rogue officers.
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