After a series of scandals, more than 1,000 London police officers sanctioned A thousand London police officers have been suspended or reassigned in a year, Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday, launching a major clean-up operation in its ranks after a series of scandals.
“It will take a year, two years or more to root out corrupt (police officers),” warned Stuart Cundy, deputy assistant commissioner.
The Met Police, London’s 34,000-strong police force, is facing a serious crisis of confidence since crimes committed by police officers were revealed.
In February, police officer David Carrick was sentenced to life in prison for dozens of rapes and sexual assaults on twelve women while he was a police officer. Police missed nine opportunities to arrest this serial rapist who could have been active for 17 years.
In March 2021, a 33-year-old Londoner, Sarah Everard, was raped and murdered by a police officer. This officer, Wayne Couzens, was also sentenced to life in prison. Police were later criticized for ignoring alarming signs about her behavior.
Beyond these high-profile cases, several reports have denounced racist, homophobic and misogynistic behavior within the police, and many voices call for reforms.
In total, 201 police officers were suspended over the past year and around 860 were reassigned, the Met announced.
“If you add these two figures together, you get more than 1,000 police officers, almost the size of a small police force elsewhere in the country. This is a significant figure,” admitted Stuart Cundy. In fact, one in every 34 agents was sanctioned.
In addition, 100 police officers were dismissed for serious misconduct in one year (66% more than in previous years), the Metropolitan Police announced, without detailing the errors committed.
And 275 are awaiting a hearing for serious misconduct, a significant proportion of which relate to allegations of violence against women (compared to 136 last year).
The number of reports from the public and officials of allegations of misconduct doubled during the same period.
