Policing by consent — the Peelian principle of earning and maintaining the respect and approval of the public — lies at the cornerstone of British law enforcement. It is admired and copied around the world. But the Metropolitan Police has, according to an excoriating report by Louise Casey, lost it.
In a landmark review commissioned in the wake of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens, Baroness Casey labelled the force institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
With problems in the force so deep-seated and management structures not fit for purpose, the report warns that there could be other officers as dangerous as Couzens or David Carrick — the former PC and serial rapist — still operating within its ranks.
The Evening Standard backs this report and the four recommendations outlined in Baroness Casey’s opinion piece on the report on this page. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met’s relatively new Commissioner, has apologised to Londoners for the failures that have brought “shame” on his force as he warned of a “long journey” ahead to restore public confidence. However, Sir Mark declined to accept Baroness Casey’s conclusion that the Met’s prejudices are institutional.
This is a mistake. It suggests that Scotland Yard’s senior leadership may still have not fully come to terms with the extent of the crisis. Sir Mark is right to point out that there are thousands of decent officers who rise every day to make this city safer. But it ought to be impossible to ignore the experiences of women, black, Asian and LGBTQ+ people, and officers themselves who experience bullying and harassment while the perpetrators are left free to go on.
The Met must not try to cherry-pick Baroness Casey’s recommendations. It has lost the opportunity to police itself by its own actions. It is incumbent on the Mayor (who will no doubt feel some vindication for his decision last year to effectively force Dame Cressida Dick’s resignation) and the Home Secretary to put politics aside and work together — with the Commissioner — to implement in full the recommendations of this report. If urgent progress is not made, nothing should be off the table including disbanding units or even breaking up the force.
It has been a long and painful road to get to this point. We must thank Baroness Casey and her team for their hard work on the report. It is clear, as it has been for some time, that Londoners deserve far better than this.
Succession is back
The fourth and final season of Succession is almost upon us, plot twists, sweary portmanteaus and all. The television series starring Brian Cox as Logan Roy, loosely based on the life, times and acquisitions of the Murdoch family, is set to go out with a bang. But disconsolate viewers can still expect to follow the twists and turns of the real thing for a while longer.
