The chances of someone like Sarah Everard’s murderer Wayne Couzens becoming a police officer would have been “clearly reduced” had measures been put in place to improve screening checks, a police watchdog has said. The failure to do so meant that "hundreds, if not thousands, of corrupt officers may be serving in England and Wales police forces" — some with criminal records while others have links to organised crime.
In a stunning condemnation of poor police vetting standards, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reviewed hundreds of police vetting files for recent recruits in eight forces around the country. It said it uncovered too many cases of officers having criminal records or links to organised crime, adding that they should not have been allowed to join the police and that it had been “too easy” for them to do so.
The inspection, commissioned in October last year by then-home secretary Priti Patel in the wake of Ms Everard’s murder, concluded a that a culture of misogyny, sexism and predatory behaviour towards female police officers, staff and members of the public still existed and was “prevalent” in many forces. Matt Parr, the Inspector of Constabulary, said this culture was prevalent in “all the forces we inspected”, which he added was a “depressing finding”.
