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Met Police Report: Hundreds of officers breaking the law
Image source, Dan Kitwood
A new report into police behaviour has found hundreds of officers broke the law, as well as their own police rules.
The report looked at the Metropolitan Police - the police service for Greater London.
It found evidence of racism, misogyny, homophobia and misconduct (keep on reading to find out what these words mean).
The current Police Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police - Sir Mark Rowley - says hundreds of his police officers should have been sacked.
Image source, WPA Pool
The report
An investigation into how police officers act at work was launched after a Metropolitan police officer was found guilty of murdering Sarah Everard in March 2021.
Baroness Louise Casey was given the task of putting the report together and seeing just how many police officers were breaking the rules, and even the law.
She found that hundreds of officers broke the law and the police's own rules, and she gave the Metropolitan Police a list of areas where they need to improve.
Image source, DANIEL LEAL
What was in the report?
Hundreds of police officers were found to have broken the law and the police's own rules. This is called misconduct.
The report found one officer who had 11 misconduct notices in total.
Baroness Louise Casey wrote about misogyny, racism and a "systemic bias" against black and Asian officers.
What does this mean?
Misogyny within the police means officers treated women differently to how they treated men. Misogyny is women being treated unfairly, or being given less opportunities due to their gender.
Image source, DANIEL LEAL
The report also said there was a "systemic bias" against black and Asian officers. This is a form of racism - where people are treated differently and unfairly because of their race.
Systemic bias within the police means that the Metropolitan Police continued to treat black and Asian officers differently to white officers.
Bias means unequal treatment towards a certain group, or person. Systemic means this happens throughout the Metropolitan Police - it's not just one or two bad people.
Baroness Louise Casey also found that misconduct involving homophobia was also badly handled.
This means when officers were found to have been homophobic, investigations in the Metropolitan Police were not always done properly.
Homophobia is people being treated unfairly due to their sexuality.
Image source, RFStock
What happens now?
Baroness Louise Casey gave the Metropolitan Police a list of things they need to change.
- The Metropolitan Police need to speed up their investigations when officers break the rules and the law
- People who break rules multiple times - which they call repeat offenders - need to be removed
- To make sure serious offences - sexual misconduct and discrimination like racism and sexism - are treated properly
- To bring in more staff to keep track of who is breaking the rules
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, says the report shows the Metropolitan Police is "not fit for purpose", which means he thinks there needs to be serious change.
Suella Braveman, who is the government's Home Secretary, says that the culture "must improve".
This is not the final report that Baroness Louise Casey will do about The Metropolitan Police - she is expected to bring out a larger, full report soon.