More than 100 police officers and staff received a criminal conviction while serving with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) from 1 January 2019 to 31 July this year, data released under a Freedom of Information request shows. Negligence in conducting background checks when hiring, and squeezed funding under the Tory government have been blamed by critics as factors feeding into the force's failings.
Among the 104 convicted were 11 sex offenders and six convicted of misconduct in public office, with one individual still serving with the force, according to the information cited by British media outlets. Thirty-two police and staff were convicted of traffic offences, four of theft, two each of forgery and drugs and one of criminal damage, with a further 22 people convicted of unspecified other offences. The murder case refers to Wayne Couzens, serving a whole-life sentence at HMP Frankland in Durham for kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard in March 2021.
Across 22 other forces, an estimated 284 officers and staff have a criminal record, figures showed, with Scotland Yard leading the "appalling" statistics. Forces with the largest number of convictions were Thames Valley and North Wales both with 31, Derbyshire with 27, and both West Midlands and Gwent with 24. Half the forces refused to provide details,, and Humberside Police was the only responding force to claim it had no officers or staff with convictions.
During the period in question, former Met officers Deniz Jaffer, 47, and Jamie Lewis, 33, were jailed for two years and nine months after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office. The two ex-officers had taken and shared photographs of bodies of murder victims found in June 2020. Another former police officer, Kashif Mahmood, dressed in his uniform and used marked and unmarked police cars to work with an organized crime gang.
Another former PC, Adnan Arib, was jailed for two years in March after admitting misconduct in public office for abusing his position to try to start sexual relationships with two “vulnerable” teenage girls.
Having a criminal record does not automatically bar one from joining the police and officers are ostensibly vetted when they join. However, the latest information showed that some officers were still in post despite a number of convictions, whereas others, already found guilty, were suspended pending misconduct hearings.
"Whenever a serving member of staff is convicted of any offence, the case is thoroughly reviewed and they are also subjected to a misconduct process to determine their ongoing future with the police," a Met spokesman was cited as saying.
The scale of criminality within the UK police was laid bare after media pressure prompted the force to release the statistics despite earlier attempts to hide behind data protection rules.
'Unchallenged Corrupting Behaviours'
Earlier, in an interim review into misconduct published on 17 October, Victims' Commissioner Baroness Louise Casey revealed that officers guilty of breaking the law or of “unacceptable behavior” were systemically dodging justice. No more than 1 percent of those facing multiple allegations of serious offences - such as corruption, sexual assault and domestic violence - had been dismissed, according to Casey, who had been appointed to lead an independent review of culture and standards into the Metropolitan Police in London after the murder of Sarah Everard.
The Met took an average 400 days to deal with claims of misconduct, the report revealed. In almost 60 percent of cases, allegations of wrongdoing were dismissed with “no case to answer”.
Evidence of systemic racism in the way such cases were handled was cited, with Black and Asian officers more likely to have proceedings brought against them than white officers by 81 percent and 55 percent respectively. According to insiders, the force took "forever" to handle complaints.
Furthermore, some 1,809 officers - or 20 percent of those facing allegations - had more than one complaint levelled against them.
“Cases are taking too long to resolve, allegations are more likely to be dismissed than acted upon, the burden on those raising concerns is too heavy, and there is racial disparity across the system,” Casey stated in the interim report.
Describing the interim review as a “sobering moment”, Sir Mark Rowley, the new Met commissioner, said he was “appalled” by the findings and added that a “radical overhaul” of the force was necessary. Rowley, who took over after a succession of racism and misogyny scandals plaguing the Met prompted the resignation of predecessor Dame Cressida Dick in February, wrote to Baroness Casey:
“Our organisation is being undermined by corrupting behaviors 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 organization is set up, and instill our values in everything we do.”
Rowley apologized to the public and the force's "honest and dedicated officers" who he said had been let down. He added that he would seek government support for a review of existing disciplinary procedures, arguing that the Met should have the final say in dismissing officers guilty of misconduct. At present the case rests with independent bodies. Baroness Casey's final report is due the next spring.
Tory Budget Cuts to Blame
Earlier, cuts under Conservative-led governments were blamed by the National Police Chiefs Council for a negative effect upon policing. It stated in late August that crime detection and charge rates had plummeted in the wake of austerity measures and a fall in police numbers since 2010.
“Detection and charge rates for a range of crimes have fallen over the past five years. This has been affected by austerity and the loss of thousands of police officers and staff, increasing complexity of policing and crime, growing demand related to mental ill health and the impact of backlogs in the court system,” a National Police Chiefs Council spokesman was cited as saying.
In a Policy Exchange paper entitled 'Crime & Policing: What Do We want from the Next Prime Minister?' written by former Met detective chief inspector David Spencer, governments led by former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May (2010 to 2019) were accused of failing to invest in policing while trying to reform its structures. The report conceded that although funding was boosted somewhat under Boris Johnson, the Tory government had not implemented sufficient reforms.
“The impact of this disconnected approach over the past 12 years has led to policing in England and Wales being insufficiently prepared to tackle the crime and disorder threats Britain faces in the 21st century,” the report read.
Data released earleir by the Home Office showed there were 142,759 police officers in England and Wales in June 2022 compared with 143,734 in March 2011. The figures were particularly compelling given that during the cited period, the population in England and Wales increased by 3.5 million people.