David Carrick was nicknamed ‘Bastard Dave’ by his Met colleagues
(Picture: Handout)The Met and other police forces were on Wednesday denounced as “institutionally sexist” as the policing watchdog admitted there were significant problems with misogyny among officers.
Diana Johnson, chairwoman of the Commonshome affairs select committee, said “that we should call it what it is — institutional sexism” as she and other MPs grilled the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services Andy Cooke about the failures that allowed Met rapist David Carrick to escape detection during his decades with the force.
Mr Cooke said he did not accept the definition because of reasons including the large number of female officers and chief constables but agreed that misogyny and a flawed culture was blighting too many parts of policing.
He said confidence in policing was at the lowest he could remember in his 36-year policing career before taking up his post as head of the forces’ watchdog last year and that the damage caused by Carrick’s “despicable” crimes would last for years.
But Ms Johnson, who was backed by other MPs, said she believed the Met and policing more generally were institutionally sexist.
“There is a real problem with the systems in the police service, the culture,” she said at a hearing of the Commons home affairs select committee today.
Rebuffing Mr Cooke’s explanation that the attitudes of some police officers reflected misogyny in wider society, she added: “That’s no excuse… We should call this what it is — institutional sexism.”
Mr Cooke replied that there was a “significant issue” with sexism in forces but said that policing had “come on leaps and bounds” despite this and now had “more female police officers than before”.
He added: “Four out of every 10 officers who join are female officers. Forty per cent of chief constables are female. Institutionally misogynist, no I don’t think it is.”
Mr Cooke then denounced the “significant failures” which had allowed Carrick, who had admitted 49 offences, to stay in police ranks undetected.
His comments follow calls for Carrick to be stripped of his estimated £22,000 a year pension and for officers who failed to take action over the complaints raised against him to face disciplinary action. Mayor Sadiq Khan will apply for a pension forfeiture order as “it is clear that Pc Carrick committed offences in connection with his service as a member of a police force.”
Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said the Government would back the move. “The forfeiture of the pension is a matter for the Mayor of London,” he told Sky News. “But we support his efforts to remove that pension, if that is indeed what he chooses to do.
“This is one of the most egregious cases of police misconduct in the history of the Met, perhaps in the history of British policing. This disgusting individual should not benefit from his years serving in the Metropolitan Police.”
Mr Jenrick added that there now needed to be a “very detailed investigation” into the Carrick case.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has told MPs that an inquiry by Dame Elish Angiolini into the rape, kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard by Carrick’s Met colleague Wayne Couzens will be extended to cover Carrick’s activities.
Under pension rules, up to 65 per cent of a police officer’s pension can be forfeited if he or she is found to have committed a sufficiently criminal offence which causes serious damage to public confidence or the interests of the state.
The money can only be seized, however, if the offending was “in connection with their service” as an officer. The courts have ruled that the other 35 per cent in an officer’s pension pot cannot be forfeited because it represents their personal contributions.
The charges relate to the rape of nine different women, but some are multiple incident counts, meaning they cover more than 80 sexual offences, including at least 48 rapes.
