Sexual assault to biting – claims made against Met Police this year | UK | News

Cases investigated by one police force involve sexual violence, stalking of women, racism and alcohol and drug abuse.

A number of cases of violence and harassment were also investigated, including one where a man allegedly bit a colleague, and another where a woman allegedly repeatedly sprayed her neighbor with a garden hose and splashed the dog’s face and urine into the garden had been washed. part of a dispute.

These are all pretty standard alleged offenses to be investigated by a police force, but when you add in the alarming fact that all the suspects were police officers, things take on a whole new twist.

Officers from the scandal-hit Met Police to be precise.

From the beginning of this month to the end of December, about 34 cases of misconduct were recorded, involving 42 officers.

Sir Mark Rowley’s pledge to clean up the force has – as he said – made things look a lot worse before they get better.

The drive to root out bad apples followed a series of shocking scandals, including the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by on-duty officer Wayne Couzens, and serial police officer-rapist David Carrick, coupled with damning reports such as the Casey Review published in March 2023 was published. .

The report published by Baroness Louise Casey concluded that the force was “institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic” and attracted people who wanted to abuse power.

The findings have led to a promise that the number of misconduct cases being dealt with has increased, including older cases reviewed and newer incidents.

Express.co.uk research into the force’s misconduct case lists for October, November and December has found five cases involving alleged assaults on other officers or members of the public, mostly off-duty, and five cases of alleged excessive use of force while on duty.

One of the cases involved an officer who allegedly attacked a colleague while he was off duty by biting him.

The case will be heard by a Met Police misconduct panel over four days later this month.

Another case, concluded this month, involved a female detective sergeant who repeatedly sprayed her dog’s faces and urine in their neighbor’s yard, and on a number of occasions hosed down neighbors who complained.

The case was heard earlier this month and found the majority of the allegations proven.

The panel heard that the officer had resigned before the investigation was completed, but concluded that had she remained a serving officer she would have received a final written warning for serious misconduct.

Even more disturbing is the large number of cases involving accusations of a sexual nature.

Nine of the cases involve allegations of harassing female colleagues, partners, ex-partners or even members of the public with unwanted contact and inappropriate messages.

Three were allegations of actual sexual assault against co-workers or other women.

In a fourth disturbing case, a male officer allegedly followed a woman into a nightclub restroom in August 2022 to “attempt to engage in sexual activity with her.”

The woman was considered vulnerable due to her age and intoxication. The hearing in December will also hear claims that when the police officer was evicted from the toilets, he lied that she was ‘his girlfriend, even though he had only met her that evening’.

There were even two other cases where the harassment was so severe it was considered stalking, with an officer allegedly slashing a woman’s tires in one of the cases.

These fall cases are not anomaly either, as the number of sexual misconduct cases heard by the force has been consistent throughout the year.

It follows a record number of police officers investigated for alleged misconduct at the Met last year.

The number of probes carried out in the force grew by 80 percent from 584 investigations in 2022 to 1,051.

The force called it the “strongest repression” since the 1970s. The number of investigations leading to full misconduct hearings grew by 29 percent to 134 cases in 2023, compared to 104 cases in 2022.

In February this year, 377 officers were awaiting serious misconduct hearings, with 42 percent relating to violence against women and girls or sexual offences, while 13 per cent related to discrimination.

A Met Police spokeswoman said: “We continue to make significant progress in ruthlessly identifying and rooting out officers and staff who commit offences.”

Alison Lowe, Association of Police and Crime Commissioners deputy head of transparency and accountability, said: “Chief

Officers have pledged to rid their forces of those unfit to serve, and police and crime commissioners will continue to hold them to account on that commitment on behalf of the public.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “As the Home Secretary has previously said, society cannot function properly if trust in the police is eroded and officers at every level must play their part in improving standards .

“We support our police force to get a handle on bad officers, making it easier to fire corrupt officers and those who are not vetted. In addition, we support the police in regularly screening all its officers, staff and volunteers to identify individuals in need of criminal or disciplinary investigation.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Baroness Casey Review, requested by the Mayor, identified a number of areas that clearly required urgent and immediate attention to improve performance, raise standards and culture to reform the force.

“This has led to an increase in misconduct investigations and hearings, with more officers and staff being dismissed at an increased rate.

“The Mayor will continue to hold the Met to account to ensure all urgent reforms are implemented and will also continue to call on the Government to make it easier for the Met to remove rogue officers.”