Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (): In September we saw the
very best of British policing, in the planning, handling and
delivery of the operation following the death of Her Late
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. It showed that, at the top of its
game, British policing is world-class and I commend all of the
thousands of officers and staff who made that happen. But in
recent years there have been several high-profile failings. These
failings substantially diminished public trust in the
Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), and undermine the incredible
work of the overwhelming majority of decent, hardworking, and
professional, frontline police officers.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) commissioned a review by
Baroness into the culture and
standards of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Interim
findings have now been reported to the MPS and are highly
concerning. They set out a failure of the MPS to operate within
the existing misconduct framework, and of failures to adequately
tackle instances of sexual misconduct and discrimination.
The impetus and action to deliver change must come from within
the MPS first and foremost – and the Government welcomes Sir Mark
Rowley’s determination to take a systematic approach to act on
the findings through both robust enforcement and long-term
prevention. Where there is a role for Government to support this,
we will not hesitate to act. That is why I am announcing an
internal review into the process of police dismissals to raise
standards and confidence in policing across England and
Wales.
The Government will work closely with key policing stakeholders
to examine evidence of the effectiveness of the system to remove
those who are not fit to serve the public. As well as examining
the overall effectiveness of dismissal arrangements, I expect the
review to consider:
- the impact of the introduction of Legally Qualified Chairs to
decide misconduct cases;
- whether decisions made by Misconduct Panels are consistent
across all 43 forces in England and Wales; and
- whether forces are making effective use of their powers to
dismiss officers on probation.
This focused review will be launched shortly and will be
conducted swiftly. It will focus on key issues and will support
those in policing who act with utmost professionalism, giving
them confidence that their hard work and commitment will not be
undone by those who bring their profession into disrepute.
