The revelation that one of Britain's worst sex offenders in history was using his police badge to aid his crimes has shattered the trust that remained in London's crisis-riddled Metropolitan Police.
The Met is the largest police force in the UK, and handles a unique range of policing responsibilities, from day-to-day patrols to anti-terror operations, to guarding the prime minister and visiting diplomats.
But discovery after discovery of violent offenders within its ranks has badly damaged its reputation and shone a blinding light on a toxic code of silence and potential oversights in vetting standards.
The force, along with five others elsewhere in the country, has been under 'special measures' since June 2022, after the government's police watchdog described "substantial and persistent concerns" about the Met "for a considerable time".
Authorities are now putting heavy pressure on the police to reform its culture and standards after a slew of allegations of misogyny.
Former Met officer David Carrick was this month jailed for 30 years for an "unrestrained campaign of rape and abuse of women" over nearly two decades.
The court found he had used his badge to intimidate victims, saying no-one would believe their word against a serving officer.
Some of his crimes, including domestic incidents and assaults, were brought to the attention of his superiors at the time. It was not until he faced two accusations of rape within three months in 2021, that any action outside of an informal caution was taken.
Before Carrick, the high-profile murder of Sarah Everard by officer Wayne Couzens in 2020 was also found to have been aided by his position in the Met.
Couzens used heightened security measures in light of COVID-19 to lure Ms Everard, who was walking home from a friend's house in the evening, into a car and kidnapped her.
Years prior, he had been investigated over a number of indecent exposure incidents and had been let off without disciplinary action.
Both Carrick and Couzens were part of the same elite police squad tasked with protecting parliamentary figures, and had undergone vetting prior to their appointments that, advocates and police executives now agree, should have raised red flags.
Spurred by the cases of Carrick, Couzens and numerous others, the Met commissioned a review into previously dismissed allegations against its staff of sexual misconduct or domestic violence.
The number of staff now under review is more than 1,600, with 230 of those specifically accused of sexual assault.
Met Commissioner Mark Rowley warned the review could lead to two to three officers per week facing trial for months.
"This is pockets, but it's too many pockets that exist because systematically we haven't been good enough," Mr Rowley said.
In addition, the UK's Home Secretary Suella Braveman has instructed constabularies across the country to check their officers and staff against the police intelligence database to ensure no allegations against staff have slipped by unnoticed.
Zoe Byrne, the national services director for Victim Support, an independent service that provides support to victims of crime, said people are less likely to report a crime if they don’t trust the police.
"We know that the criminal justice system relies on people coming forward to report their crime, people cooperating with that system and giving evidence," Dr Bryne told the ABC.
"When there is a mistrust in policing and when there is a lot of negative publicity around policing response, of course, that affects victims' belief in the response that they're going to get from the police if they report a crime."
A wider review into processes around police misconduct was commissioned by previous Met commissioner Cressida Dick after public outcry over Ms Everard's murder.
The review is due to be completed this month, and foreshadowed in its interim report last year that a massive overhaul in misconduct proceedings will be required to effect any meaningful change in culture.
As it stands, on average, a misconduct allegation overseen by the Met takes longer than a year to complete, and more than half end without any action taken.
"Our organisation is being undermined by corrupting behaviours that have gone unchallenged and been allowed to multiply," Ms Dick's successor Mr Rowley said.
Dr Bryne says the police need to fully recognise the impact the culture of silence has had on the general public before it is able to rebuild trust.
"They need to understand that the trust has been broken and damaged and why it has been and to seek to restore that," Dr Bryne said.
"That needs to happen now and it needs to be an absolute priority to stamp out misogyny and prejudice within the police."
Authorities within the police seem to believe they can achieve that.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr told BBC radio, "The fact [corrupt officers] are coming to court does show the Met are detecting them, that they are rooting them out and they are getting them through the courts and they are getting them dismissed."
