‘Several hundred’ officers could be removed from Met after damning report

“Several hundred” officers can be expected to be removed from the Metropolitan Police, the author of a damning report into the force’s culture has said.

Dame Louise Casey was asked at a meeting of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee how many officers could be dismissed as a result of her report - which has found the Met Police to be “institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic”.

She told the Wednesday meeting: “Sir Mark [Rowley, Met Police commissioner] will have a greater sense for himself. I just know that we’re not talking hundreds - we are talking several hundreds, would be my estimation.”

Sir Mark later appeared to confirm that estimation, telling the committee: “I will be publishing some data in the next couple of weeks, which I had promised to at the end of March, in terms of the reviews we’re doing.

“That will show that our dismissals, for example, have gone up quite sharply, and suspensions, the number of investigations, the amount of reports coming from officers, is going up - so you can see progress on that.

“We’re also testing a different legal route to remove officers, who we think no longer pass the vetting standards, which is something that hasn’t been done in the past.

“So, removing the hundreds of people that shouldn’t be here [in the Met] is clearly a part of the solution, and you will start to see progress on that in my next update - as much as setting up the vast majority of good people with better resources to do that.”

Caroline Pidgeon, a Liberal Democrat Assembly Member who asked Baroness Casey the question about how many police officers may be dismissed, commented after the meeting: “To learn several hundred officers are potentially facing dismissal really highlights just how widespread the rot within the force has become and pours cold water on the notion by some that this is only about a ‘few bad apples’.

“It is now vital that this report serves as a starting point for a total culture change within the police service in London and that the advice given is actioned upon.”