It’s no one-off. The problems cannot be laid at the door of a single rogue officer or isolated WhatsApp message. The Metropolitan Police, London’s police service, has essentially been placed in special measures after being hit by a series of scandals, from the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer to the strip-search of a school girl in Hackney.
Let us make no mistake about it: this is a shameful day for the Met. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services referenced systemic and shocking failures, reportedly including “barely adequate standard of crime-recording accuracy” with 69,000 crimes left unrecorded per year and close to no anti-social behaviour crimes being registered.
