For decades, as a litany of scandals has unfolded, the Metropolitan Police, which employs around a quarter of police officers in England and Wales, has focused on making excuses for itself. The problem, we have repeatedly been told, lies not with the institution but with a small number of unrepresentative officers – the so-called bad apples. There is always someone, or something else, to blame for systemic failings.
The 363-page report by the crossbench peer Louise Casey – which was commissioned as part of a review following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met police officer, Wayne Couzens – should mark the end of such apologias. It concludes that the Met is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. The report also says the Met has a bullying culture internally, and that there is an “overpolicing” of the black community. Baroness Casey concludes it has become “unanchored” from the founding principles of Robert Peel.
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