According to the commissioner, the Met Police is investigating 1,000 sexual and domestic abuse claims involving approximately 800 of its officers. It follows the guilty plea of PC David Carrick to 49 charges, including dozens of rapes. Sir Mark Rowley stated that all 45,000 Met officers and staff would be rechecked for previously unreported offences. He also apologised to Carrick’s victims for the police department’s shortcomings. “We messed up. And I apologise. “He should not have been a cop,” he said. “We haven’t applied the same sense of ruthlessness to guarding our own integrity that we routinely apply to confronting criminals,” he continued. We failed in two ways. As investigators, we failed to be more intrusive and connect the dots on this repeated misogyny over a couple of decades.” And as leaders, we should have been more determined to bring such a misogynist to justice.” These failures are horrific examples of the systemic failures that concern me and that Baroness Casey highlighted in her recent review. “I know an apology isn’t enough, but I believe it’s important to acknowledge our flaws and for me to apologise.” I sincerely apologise to David Carrick’s victims. I also want to apologise to all of the women in London who feel we have let them down. “I have promised action. Since my first day four months ago, I have stated that the Met will become ruthless in its pursuit of those who undermine our integrity. This is due to the fact that our integrity serves as our foundation. We haven’t guarded it as fiercely as we should have, but we will. We’ve launched a new anti-corruption and abuse command in the last four months, adding 30% more officers to the fight against corruption. We’ve also made public appeals. We’ve opened 250 new lines of investigation and are conducting more proactive work against problematic officers than ever before. I’ve also brought in new leadership to help guide this work and reform our integrity.” I intend to write to the Home Secretary and the Mayor in an open public letter at the end of March. And by then, we will have completed our review of all of our personnel, having compared their information to all of the police, national intelligence data in the police national database.” Baroness Casey, who is reviewing the force’s standards and internal culture, has asked the home secretary to conduct a full investigation into Carrick’s case. “This work is necessary for all of his victims,” she said. She also suggested that Lady Elish Angiolini’s current non-statutory investigation into Sarah Everard’s kidnapping, rape, and murder be expanded to include Carrick’s actions. Any investigation into Carrick should “include the conduct of David Carrick and the potential opportunities that the Met, other police forces, and organisations may have had to identify his pattern of behaviour prior to October 2021, to prevent him from being a police officer, and, ultimately, to prevent him from offending,” she said. She stated that the issue was “so serious” that if extending the current investigation was not possible, she would volunteer to conduct a separate investigation.
