LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held urgent talks with Scotland Yard chief Mark Rowley following a high-profile rape scandal involving an on-duty police officer and backed growing calls for urgency police reforms.
Sunak said he had ‘constructive’ talks with Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and made it clear to him that ‘the abuse of power we have seen this week is absolutely despicable and must be dealt with at once”. He said checks had been “significantly tightened” in recent years and his government was ensuring that each force now had “best in class” checks – which would be “independently inspected very quickly”.
“All police forces across the country have been instructed to check all their serving officers and personnel against national police databases to identify and eliminate anyone who should not be serving,” Sunak said after meeting Rowley on Wednesday night.
His intervention follows an outcry over Met Police officer for more than 20 years, David Carrick, recognized as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders after recently admitting dozens of rapes and sexual offenses in assaults on 12 women.
The UK Home Office has issued new guidelines to stamp out what it calls “misogyny and predatory behaviour” from the ranks of the country’s police force.
“David Carrick’s sickening crimes are a stain on the police and he should never have been allowed to remain an officer for so long,” the UK Home Secretary said. Suella Braverman.
“We are taking immediate action to ensure that predatory individuals are not only removed from the force, but that vetting and standards are tightened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place. Every day thousands of decent and hardworking police carry out their duties with the utmost professionalism and I am sure they all share my disgust at his despicable betrayal of all they stand for,” he said. she stated.
The UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has confirmed that it will ask all police forces to check their officers and staff against national police databases.
This will help identify anyone who slipped through the net before vetting standards were tightened and ensure those unfit to serve can be expelled, the head office said.
Braverman called on the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for policing oversight, making the obligations that all forces must legally follow “stricter and clearer”. This will make a series of tips a legal requirement for all police forces.
She has also launched an internal review of police dismissals to ensure the system is effective in dismissing officers who fail to meet the standards expected of them.
The Met Police, the UK’s largest police force, has since apologized for allowing Carrick to continue working despite nine serious allegations against him over the years, including rape and domestic abuse.
The force has come under scrutiny in recent months due to crimes, many of them targeting women, committed by some of its officers.
Sunak said he had ‘constructive’ talks with Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and made it clear to him that ‘the abuse of power we have seen this week is absolutely despicable and must be dealt with at once”. He said checks had been “significantly tightened” in recent years and his government was ensuring that each force now had “best in class” checks – which would be “independently inspected very quickly”.
“All police forces across the country have been instructed to check all their serving officers and personnel against national police databases to identify and eliminate anyone who should not be serving,” Sunak said after meeting Rowley on Wednesday night.
His intervention follows an outcry over Met Police officer for more than 20 years, David Carrick, recognized as one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders after recently admitting dozens of rapes and sexual offenses in assaults on 12 women.
The UK Home Office has issued new guidelines to stamp out what it calls “misogyny and predatory behaviour” from the ranks of the country’s police force.
“David Carrick’s sickening crimes are a stain on the police and he should never have been allowed to remain an officer for so long,” the UK Home Secretary said. Suella Braverman.
“We are taking immediate action to ensure that predatory individuals are not only removed from the force, but that vetting and standards are tightened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place. Every day thousands of decent and hardworking police carry out their duties with the utmost professionalism and I am sure they all share my disgust at his despicable betrayal of all they stand for,” he said. she stated.
The UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has confirmed that it will ask all police forces to check their officers and staff against national police databases.
This will help identify anyone who slipped through the net before vetting standards were tightened and ensure those unfit to serve can be expelled, the head office said.
Braverman called on the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for policing oversight, making the obligations that all forces must legally follow “stricter and clearer”. This will make a series of tips a legal requirement for all police forces.
She has also launched an internal review of police dismissals to ensure the system is effective in dismissing officers who fail to meet the standards expected of them.
The Met Police, the UK’s largest police force, has since apologized for allowing Carrick to continue working despite nine serious allegations against him over the years, including rape and domestic abuse.
The force has come under scrutiny in recent months due to crimes, many of them targeting women, committed by some of its officers.
