The Metropolitan Police is “institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic”, a new report has found.

A review by Baroness Louise Casey, which was commissioned by the Met in October 2021 following the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, said Britain’s largest force needs a “complete overhaul”.

Her report, published 21 March, explored a wide range of issues including the Met’s organisation, its support for officers and staff, discrimination, standards, its approach to protecting women and children and its wider operational effectiveness.

The 363-page report found evidence of widespread bullying, racist attitudes and “deep-seated homophobia” in the force.

When asked if there could be more officers in the Met like Couzens and Carrick, Baroness Casey said: “I cannot sufficiently assure you that that is not the case.”

“The Met has yet to free itself of institutional racism. Public consent is broken. The Met has become unanchored from the Peelian principle of policing by consent set out when it was established.”

“This isn’t wrong-uns or ‘bad apples’, this is systemic failure across the system.”

Casey revealed that a Muslim officer had bacon stuffed in his boots, a Sikh officer had his beard cut and minority ethnic officers were much more likely to be disciplined or leave.

Other key findings in the report included:

• Two of the best-resourced units, the Specialist Firearms Command and the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, had the worst culture
• Austerity “disfigured” the Met with cuts between 2010 and 2019, leaving women victims “thrown to one side”
• Fridges containing evidence for rape cases were broken, meaning cases were dropped
• Alleged domestic abusers, including an officer accused of rape, remain in service

Following the report, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley accepted Baroness Casey’s “deeply troubling diagnosis”.

“This report sparks feelings of shame and anger but it also increases our resolve,” he said.

“I am proud of those people, our officers and staff, whose passion for policing and determination to reform moved them to share their experiences with such honesty.

“This is, in many ways, their report. It must be a catalyst for police reform.

“This report needs to lead to meaningful change. If it only leads to pillory and blame of the exceptional majority of officers then only criminals will benefit.

“We need it to galvanise Londoners, the dedicated police majority and politicians to coalesce around reform and the renewal of policing by consent for the 21st century.”

Sir Mark added: “The appalling examples in this report of discrimination, the letting down of communities and victims, and the strain faced by the frontline, are unacceptable.

“We have let people down and I repeat the apology I gave in my first weeks to Londoners and our own people in the Met. I am sorry.

“I want us to be anti-racist, anti-misogynist and anti-homophobic. In fact, I want us to be anti-discrimination of all kinds.

“There are external factors – funding, governance, growing demand and resource pressures that shouldn’t sit with policing – that the report has identified. Baroness Casey is right to identify the impact these have had on our ability to police London, but there can be no excuses for us.

“The core of the problems are for policing to determinedly confront.”

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, called the evidence “damning”. 

“Baroness Casey has found institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, which I accept. She has described the Met as defensive, resistant to change and unwilling to engage with communities.”

He said he would be “unflinching” in holding Sir Mark Rowley, the new Met police commissioner, to account.

“I want to assure Londoners that I’ll be unflinching in my resolve to support and hold the new commissioner to account as he works to overhaul the force,” he said.

Since the report was published, many people have taken to social media and highlighted how the 1999 Macpherson Report resulted in similar findings with little change.

“This isn’t the first report on institutional racism in the Met,” tweeted one user. “The Macpherson Report suggested this 24 years ago. How is the same [conversation] being had decades later?”

Another tweeted: “The Macpherson report told us everything we needed to know about the Met police, this was in 1999 … why have they waited 22 years for this new report to land to say they need to take immediate action to reform the Met?”

The Macpherson report was published 1n 1999 after Jack Straw, the home secretary at the time, announced the establishment of an inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, who was killed by a group of white men in 1993.

The 350-page report concluded that the investigation into the killing had been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership”. 

Image: Getty