London cops routinely made jokes about rape and exchanged racist messages, in accordance with a report from England’s official police watchdog that detailed a sample of misogyny and bullying within the power, the newest blow to an embattled service that has confronted intense scrutiny in latest months.
The findings mirrored a troubling tradition throughout the London Metropolitan Police Service, in accordance with the report launched Tuesday by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog, which made greater than a dozen suggestions to deal with the issue. It mentioned the episodes it detailed weren’t remoted ones or the work of some “bad apples.”
The report comes amid rising requires elevated scrutiny of the power after the kidnapping, rape and homicide of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London girl, by a Metropolitan Police Service officer in March 2021 highlighted broader considerations about misogyny inside policing, and violence in opposition to girls and ladies.
“The behavior we uncovered was disgraceful and fell well below the standards expected of the officers involved,” Sal Naseem, the police watchdog’s regional director, mentioned in an announcement, including that the “issues are not isolated or historic.”
Naseem mentioned that the watchdog welcomed present efforts to root out problematic conduct and attitudes from the police power, together with a seamless formal unbiased evaluation of the requirements and tradition throughout the service, however “more is required.”
“Our recommendations focus on the identified cultural issues and aim to ensure that those who work for the force feel safe with their colleagues, and that communities feel safe with those whose job is to protect them,” Naseem mentioned.
The Metropolitan Police Service mentioned in an announcement that the actions of the cops in central London that the report detailed do “not represent the values” of the power.
The report was the results of findings from a sequence of investigations into the Metropolitan Police Service that uncovered proof of bullying and discrimination inside its ranks. They started after a grievance alleging that an officer had intercourse with a drunk particular person at a police station, however quickly grew to embody many extra points.
The investigations had been initiated in 2018, lengthy earlier than the nationwide outcry over policing that adopted Everard’s dying, however have since taken on new resonance.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
