The Casey review highlighted cases to show how broken and substandard the Metropolitan police’s efforts were to shield the public from bigoted and potentially dangerous officers.
Case one
An officer faced a total of 11 misconduct claims including allegations of abuse, sexual harassment and assault, fraud, improper disclosure of information and distribution of an explicit image of himself. He is still serving.
The case, says Casey, highlights the fact that allegations are looked at separately and not together, as they would be in a criminal case.
He first faced claims of harassment and assault, then four months later a “more serious case of assault” was received, the report said.
One month later another claim was made and around six months later another sexual assault claim is made. More claims followed, including for fraud.
After more months have elapsed, several allegations are dismissed by the Met discipline investigators and no action is taken.
Two cases still remain open though, and a fresh allegation of assault is received. Nearly two years after the first allegations of wrongdoing were received, a new claim of improper disclosure of information is received against the same officer.
Skip forward a few months, now more than two years from the first claims, and allegations of harassment and assault are upheld. He gets a final warning, but then new allegations stemming from when the officer was on duty are received which allege sexual harassment, sexual assault, sex-based discrimination, and abuse of power.
More claims follow of sexual assault and one of sexual harassment. Well over two years from the first claims, some are dismissed, and new ones are received, including a tenth set of allegations involving “harassment and the distribution of an explicit image of himself”, Casey said.
By this stage, the claim of improper disclosure of information is dismissed, but claims of harassment, sexual violence, and gender-based discrimination are still under investigation.
There are then new allegations of a sexual offence and he is arrested, and that is still under investigation.
Nonetheless, the following month sees no action taken over other claims and for other allegations a discipline hearing issues a formal sanction, but he is allowed to keep his job. More allegations are dismissed and the last contact the officer has with the Met discipline system sees him referred for “reflective practice”, Casey notes.
Case 2
An officer faces six allegations including for discrimination, oppressive conduct and harassment. Some relate to a WhatsApp group. Casey notes: “The officer has received two final written warnings in 10 years, received a no case to answer decision for the three cases, and one case remains open.”
He is still serving.
Case 3
Casey said another officer is still serving and faces: “Seven misconduct cases … for corrupt practice, traffic irregularity, failure to safeguard whilst on duty, domestic assault, sexual assault and domestic abuse and disrespectful attitude and discreditable conduct. The officer has received management action three times, reflective practice once and has received no case to answer decisions in the other three cases. The officer is serving in the Metropolitan police service.”
