Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper
(Picture: PA Wire)All police accused of rape or domestic abuse should be automatically suspended, Labour said on Thursday as it rounded on the government for not doing enough to root out rogue officers in the wake of the mass rapes of Met officer David Carrick.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said that “fundamental reform of vetting, standards and misconduct” procedures was needed to tackle the problems exposed by Carrick’s crimes and early cases including the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Carrick’s colleague Wayne Couzens.
She said changes should include the suspension of any officer facing a domestic abuse or rape, compulsory vetting standards and a “major upgrade” to the police misconduct system.
“After the terrible murder of Sarah Everard, government ministers and the police promised things would change, but that failed. The time for warm words is long past,” Ms Cooper told the Standard.
“Police officers facing allegations of rape and domestic abuse should be suspended - it is just incredible that doesn’t happen in many cases. Vetting standards should be compulsory.
“The misconduct system needs major improvements in dealing with violence against women. Ministers have repeatedly refused to introduce mandatory changes - that’s not good enough.
“Women are being let down and this is undermining confidence in the vital work the police do every day.”
Ms Cooper’s comments came as it was reported that more calls have been received by a Met anti-abuse hotline since Carrick’s crimes were made public.
The 48-year-old officer, who joined the Met in 2001, pleaded guilty to 49 charges, covering 80 offences including 48 rapes.
He was known as “Bastard Dave” by his colleagues but evaded detection until a 2021 rape despite nine missed opportunities to identify the risk he posed, including an earlier rape allegation and reports of domestic abuse.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has admitted that Carrick, who had already been the subject of complaints about malicious communication and harassment before joining the Met, should not have been recruited and should have been removed far sooner once employed.
Sir Mark has already said that he has received around 250 reports of potential misconduct by officers since making an internal appeal for whistleblowers last year.
The Met has also disclosed that 1,633 cases, involving 1.071 Met officers and staff, that have previously been investigated are being re-examined “to ensure that no officers who could have been disciplined, sacked or prosecuted are missed”.
The force has said it expects most of the original decisions to be upheld, but that the failings exposed by the Carrick case and a review of its procedures by Baroness Louise Casey mean that it expects some mistakes to have been made.
