The Casey review has unearthed a series of alarming case studies that expose the state of the Metropolitan Police. Among those it discovered are these:
– While working on sexual offences unit Sapphire, officer G said multiple officers would be needed to close freezers holding forensic samples because they were so full. She told the review that the unit’s freezers, which held and preserved evidence obtained from victims and survivors of sexual violence including swabs, blood, urine and underwear, would be so full it would take three officers to close them: one person to push the door closed, one person to hold it shut, and one to secure the lock.
“All the fridges used for rape kits were in bad shape, packed and ruining evidence," she said. "In the heatwave in 2022, G said that one freezer broke down and all of the evidence had to be destroyed because it could no longer be used.
