A former senior Metropolitan Police officer fought back tears saying she had finally been “vindicated” as a damning review exposed racism and misogyny in the force’s misconduct procedure.
Retired Detective Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri told the Standard: “I feel like crying. I’m so gutted for female, black and minority officers forced out of the job they loved. Their voices have been silenced.
“For decades, whistleblowers like me suddenly found themselves under investigation or subject to performance matters.
“It was a thread throughout my 30-year career.”
Baroness Louise Casey heard concerns officers raising issues relating to racism, other discrimination and wrongdoing were often labelled trouble-makers, which then led to unfair disciplinary action.
Her damning report published on Monday found black officers and staff are 81 per cent more likely to be accused of misconduct than their white colleagues. Asian police are 55 per cent more likely.
But there is “no disproportionality” in complaints that come from the members of the public, she found.
Colleagues labelled Ms Chaudhri a “race card, power-crazy bitch” and a “Bounty”, she claimed.
Within three days of her putting in an application to become one of the Met’s first Asian detective superintendents, she was served with a gross misconduct notice.
An anonymous caller claimed she hadn’t recorded her work hours properly and had been falsifying entries on a computer system. Ms Chaudhri was cleared after a seven-month investigation and given advice on using the “booking on” system.
“I was targeted because I was Asian and female,” said the officer who retired in December 2019.
“They knew I was going for promotion.
“I went on to be promoted but so did those racist and misogynistic cops. That is why they don’t sack rogue officers. The same people who condone that behaviour sit on disciplinary panels.
“The Met has the biggest mountain to climb if senior officers protect the perpetrators and rarely the whistleblowers.”
Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley is pushing for new powers to allow force bosses to reopen misconduct cases against officers and staff.
He estimates that hundreds of officers in the force have been getting away with misconduct and even criminal behaviour, but currently has no way of kicking them out of their jobs.
The report on the Met’s disciplinary systems published on Monday found that less than one per cent of officers with multiple misconduct cases against them had been sacked, and that the bar for what would constitute gross misconduct, a sackable offence, was set too high.
The Home Office has announced a review of the ways the sacking of police officers and staff are handled.
Sir Mark said: “If there’s any way we can get the crowbar into the box on any of these old cases and reopen them, of course we will do, although generally that’s not possible the way the law is constructed.
“Interestingly, (watchdog) the Independent Office for Police Conduct has the power to reopen investigations in some circumstances, the police don’t, and that’s one of the things that we’re asking the Home Office to think about in their review of regulations, because I would like to reopen some of the most egregious cases.”
He told LBC that under the current disciplinary system, officers who have been sacked by force chiefs can be reimposed on the organisation.
Sir Mark said: “It’s a bizarre, over-regulated system.”
Former detective sergeant Janet Hills, ex-head of the Met’s Black Police Association, said Baroness Casey and Londoners need to hold the force to account or the report’s conclusions will be meaningless.
She added: “Since the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence nearly 30 years ago, people have been putting words on paper and saying stuff about institutional Met corruption.
“Often after a report like this, you ask senior leaders how many recommendations have been implemented in full and they cannot tell you.
“There sounds like a lot of honesty and truth to what Baroness Casey has written. But today’s news mustn’t become tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.”
Inspector Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, said: “It comes as no surprise to us. Members fail to see justice when they raise issues of discrimination.
“We’re disappointed but hopeful things will change. For me, it’s a leadership issue, not scapegoating frontline officers or ‘bad apples’. Unfortunately, the Met have allowed the boundaries to stray too far. They have protected officers who let them down. We are losing too many black officers who become jaded over time.
“Racism in policing is seen as a PR issue, something that needs to be contained and spun – rather than seeing the impact it has on the victim.”
