It will take up to three years to rid the Metropolitan Police of “hundreds” of rogue officers, the force’s commissioner has said.
Sir Mark Rowley added that he is “potentially” a third of the way through the process as he has held his post for a year now.
He has been forced to readdress the issue of public trust in his police force after five former Met Police officers admitted sending grossly offensive racist messages while a serving officer appeared in court charged with six counts of rape on Thursday.
I think this is two or three years’ work where we get rid of those hundreds of officers who are letting everyone else down— Sir Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Responding to a member of the public who made reference to the two cases during a live phone-in on LBC, Sir Mark said trust and confidence has “absolutely” fallen and been “badly dented” in the Metropolitan Police.
The commissioner said there are “hundreds” of officers who should not be in the force.
“We are sacking and suspending people at a greater rate than before,” he continued.
Sir Mark added that clearing is slowed down by “bureaucratic processes” which should improve when recently approved changes to regulations come into place.
It’s a big uptick to clear out some mistakes from history, which is embarrassing and frustrating and undermines public trust— Sir Mark Rowley, Metropolitan Police Commissioner
He told LBC: “I think this is two or three years’ work where we get rid of those hundreds of officers who are letting everyone else down.”
He continued: “When I took over the Met was only sacking five officers a month on average in the previous years.
“So we’re talking about hundreds in a small number of years so it’s a big uptick to clear out some mistakes from history, which is embarrassing and frustrating and undermines public trust.”
Asked if there is a cultural issue in the force, Sir Mark said: “I think there’s a lot in the systems, there’s some stuff in the culture that we have responsibility for in terms of leadership decisions, culture, not moving with the times.
“I think there’s some big issues for policing across the country, you’re seeing a smattering of cases elsewhere as well.
“Because we don’t have a clear route to sack officers who fail re-vetting, which is one of the regulatory issues being fixed, (the) system has fallen into disrepute.
“And those changes to regulations…are going to be so important helping to accelerate people out.”
