London deserves a better Metropolitan Police, Baroness Louise Casey said on Tuesday in damning report about the force’s failings.
The Government official found the Met Police to be “riven with racism, sexism and homophobia, in the way it treats its staff and the way it polices Londoners”. She also criticised its inability to protect women and children.
Baroness Casey said the force must apologise for past mistakes, improve its accountability, and restore front-line policing to the standards people expect.
She told the Evening Standard: “The many great Met officers deserve a better Met. The Met cannot be in denial now.
“My report makes clear what its problems are and what needs to change. This is the moment for the Met to take action.”
Here is what other key figures in London have said about the 360-page report which has led to many to call for change in the Met Police.
Sir Mark Rowley
"Baroness Casey's report sparks feelings of shame and anger - but it also increases our resolve.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 21, 2023
“We have let people down, I am sorry.”
"It must be a catalyst for police reform."
- Sir Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police Commissioner
🔽🧵 Thread pic.twitter.com/INibJtxLZp
Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley conceded that he should have spotted some of the bigotry during his time as head of counter-terrorism. However, he insisted that he was determined to implement the reforms needed to restore trust in policing in London.
“I was spending a lot of my time wrestling with Isis [Islamic State] and terrorism,” Sir Mark told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I saw some cultural challenges, I made some changes in the protection world but clearly they weren’t enough. The level of toxicity that Louise [Baroness Casey] calls out, I didn’t see it.”
He also tweeted his desire for change, saying “the duty to reform sits most of all with us”.
Sadiq Khan
The Mayor of London said on BBC Breakfast that the report set out a “route map” to change.
He added that he would not know if there could be more rogue officers like Wayne Couzens and David Carrick until a review has been undertaken.
“We have got to make sure there is a zero tolerance of any incident,” he said.
Voices around London
Nothing in Baroness Casey’s report surprises me. The cancerous, systemic racism of the Met Police has been exposed. After decades of them gaslighting the Black community post Macpherson that institutional racism exists only in our minds, Casey has provided the receipts. 🧵1/7
— Michael Morgan (@mikewhoatv) March 21, 2023
Michael Morgan, a social commentator, tweeted: “Nothing in Baroness Casey’s report surprises me. The cancerous, systemic racism of the Met Police has been exposed.
“After decades of them gaslighting the Black community post Macpherson that institutional racism exists only in our minds, Casey has provided the receipts.”
Baroness Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence — who was killed in a racially motiviated attack in 1993 — said the report shows how the Met is still "rotten to the core".
She told the BBC: “[Discrimination] in every form is clearly rampant in its ranks.”
"Met police found to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic."
— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) March 21, 2023
Baroness Casey report
12% of women working inside the Met say they have been attacked or harassed AT WORK 😡😡😡
Will prosecutions now take place?https://t.co/JHnMOH9uae
TV presenter Carol Vorderman tweeted: “Met police found to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. [The] Baroness Casey report [found]12 per cent of women working inside the Met say they have been attacked or harassed at work. Will prosecutions now take place?”
Waiting for the Casey Report to land & feeling pretty rubbish & down about it all, really.
— Jim Cole (@Cole_Jim_1) March 20, 2023
It is really hard not to be defensive when an organisation you love & have worked for for your adult life is subject to such criticism.
But it's important to hold that feeling & reflect. pic.twitter.com/aEHhyTsy3f
Jim Cole, an inspector with the Met, tweeted: “Waiting for the Casey Report to land and feeling pretty rubbish and down about it all, really.
“It is really hard not to be defensive when an organisation you love and have worked for for your adult life is subject to such criticism.
“But it's important to hold that feeling and reflect.”
Labour MPs
Baroness Casey’s report calls for a fundamental reset of stop-and-search, which disproportionately targets Black communities.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 21, 2023
I asked the Home Secretary how her Public Order Bill, which gives the police more stop-and-search powers, fits with Casey’s demand for urgent change. pic.twitter.com/uYNS0B1UDI
Jeremy Corbyn, Islington North MP and former Labour Party leader, tweeted: “Baroness Casey’s report calls for a fundamental reset of stop-and-search, which disproportionately targets Black communities.
“I asked the Home Secretary how her Public Order Bill, which gives the police more stop-and-search powers, fits with Casey’s demand for urgent change.”
I want to thank Baroness Casey for her report which is tough but essential reading.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) March 21, 2023
The scale of change required is vast, but as I witnessed in Northern Ireland, it can be done.
My Labour government will lead police reform. pic.twitter.com/bvTMCqaHo5
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, tweeted: “I want to thank Baroness Casey for her report which is tough but essential reading. The scale of change required is vast, but as I witnessed in Northern Ireland, it can be done. My Labour government will lead police reform.”
MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Diane Abbott, tweeted: “Over 40 years after Scarman and nearly 30 years after Stephen Lawrence's murder the Met is still institutionally racist. It has added institutional misogyny and homophobia.
“Tinkering at the edges and internal reform has not worked in all that time. The Met has deteriorated even further because it has not faced reality. Even now the Met Commissioner refuses to accept the 'institutional' verdict.
“Both he and the Met should go.”
Ms Abbott’s mention of Scarman referenced the Scarman report, which was commissioned by the Government following the 1981 Brixton riots.
Baroness Casey’s important report follows what Sir William MacPherson found in 1999 and what I found in 2017.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) March 21, 2023
The Home Secretary must take action to address these failings. Otherwise racism, sexism and homophobia will continue to fester in the Met.https://t.co/7DAxsEfVPi
Tottenham MP David Lammy tweeted: “Baroness Casey’s important report follows what Sir William MacPherson found in 1999 and what I found in 2017.
“The Home Secretary must take action to address these failings. Otherwise racism, sexism and homophobia will continue to fester in the Met.”
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