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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent and Aina J Khan

Police vetting failures have allowed ‘predatory’ officers to join up, watchdog finds

A vigil in Clapham Common for Sarah Everard. The report was ordered after the murder of Everard in March 2021 by a serving Met police officer.
A vigil in Clapham Common for Sarah Everard. The report was ordered after the murder of Everard in March 2021 by a serving Met police officer. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Defective vetting and failures by police leaders have allowed a “prevalent” culture of potentially thousands of officers who are “predatory” towards women to join and stay in the ranks, a damning official report has concluded.

Officers staged unwarranted stops of women in an abuse of power known as “booty patrols”, with crimes such as sexual assault covered up and ignored along with large-scale harassment of female officers and members of the public.

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