Hundreds of officers in the London Metropolitan Police are getting away with misconduct, much of it criminal, according to an official report authorted by Baroness Casey. Racism, sexism, homophobia and criminal levels of misconduct are rife on the force. Hundreds of them must immediately be fired.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says he is "appalled" at the findings and the situation "cannot continue".
The Met chief – who was appointed last month – said the report showed "patterns of unacceptable discrimination that clearly amount to systemic bias" towards black and Asian officers and staff.
Admitting that its findings showed hundreds of his officers should have been sacked, he also apologised to the public and the force's "honest and dedicated officers" who he said had been let down.
Sometimes I'll be talking about stuff in Britain and an American will say to me, but damn, your cops don't even have guns! They barely kill anyone! They wear cute little sweater tanks! Sure. But think of it like this: in America, every time you run in to the cops, the bigotry is either at a 1 or a 10, where 1 is professional and 10 is you're fucked.
Would you like to get, say, 4 out of 10 every single time in return for knowing that 10 will never happen? You would, absolutely. No problem. Bigotry at 4/10, eat it for breakfast. With this report, London wakes up to the reality that the number is closer to 8. You'll still take it over the guns and the killologists and the Klan Sheriffs, but that's not a happy life.
