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The police watchdog has demanded sweeping modifications to the tradition of London’s Metropolitan Police after an investigation uncovered “stunning” proof of pervasive and chronic bullying, misogyny, homophobia and racism inside the power.
The report by the Impartial Workplace for Police Conduct in England and Wales, revealed on Tuesday, famous a tradition of extremely sexualised, violent and discriminatory “banter” amongst Met officers, linked to “poisonous masculinity, misogyny and sexual harassment”.
Of the 14 officers investigated, two had been dismissed for gross misconduct, whereas one other 4 confronted hearings. A fifth resigned fairly than face a listening to. The findings of Operation Hotton targeted on constables primarily primarily based at central London’s Charing Cross police station.
The inquiry is the most recent blow to the popularity of the Met following a sequence of revelations about issues inside police tradition after the rape and homicide of Sarah Everard in 2021 by a serving officer, Wayne Couzens.
The power additionally confronted extreme criticism in December after an inquest discovered that three of the 4 killings by Stephen Port, a serial killer of younger homosexual males, may have been averted if officers had investigated the circumstances correctly.
Sal Naseem, IOPC regional director for London and South England, mentioned the behaviour uncovered was “disgraceful” and fell “properly under the requirements anticipated of the officers concerned”.
The report was “stunning” and contained language that was offensive, he added.
“Whereas these officers predominantly labored in groups in Westminster which have since been disbanded, we all know from different latest circumstances that these points usually are not remoted or historic,” mentioned Naseem.
The Operation Hotton investigation began in March 2018 after an officer was accused of getting intercourse in a police station with a drunk girl, which led the IOPC to take over an inside Met harassment investigation.
The report mentioned the workforce at Charing Cross, the place the IOPC had recognized these issues, was now disbanded however whereas noting proof of comparable behaviour in subsequent investigations.
“We consider these incidents usually are not remoted or just the behaviour of some ‘unhealthy apples’,” the report mentioned.
The watchdog discovered officers referred in messages to beating their wives and companions, whereas one talked about using steroids. Lots of the exchanges shared by officers had been sexist, whereas others had been homophobic and racist, it famous.
The IOPC made 15 suggestions, together with guidelines on difficult and reporting improper conduct amongst different enhancements to the power’s wider tradition.
Bas Javid, the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner for skilled requirements, mentioned he was “offended and dissatisfied” by the report’s findings.
The actions of the officers between 2016 and 2018 had been “unacceptable, unprofessional, disrespectful and deeply offensive”, he famous.
“I learn their messages with growing disgust and disgrace,” he mentioned, including that the power had taken motion, together with the misconduct and gross misconduct hearings and chatting with workers about accountable use of social media.
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