After 48-year-old David Carrick admitted to committing 24 rapes in his nearly 20 years as a police officer, the news that "one of the worst rapists in the UK" turned out to be a police officer grabbed the headlines of major British media. The Metropolitan Police in London, which has been involved in scandals in recent years, has fallen into a further crisis of confidence and a whirlpool of public opinion.
David Carrick
The case follows a series of serious misconduct in the unit, the UK's largest police department with more than 45,000 officers and staff leading the country's response to issues such as terrorism and extradition.
The Guardian newspaper reported that an internal investigation report by the Metropolitan Police revealed that 1,809 law enforcement officers and other staff in the department have been implicated in more than one case of misconduct since 2013. Among them, 1,263 people were involved in two cases, more than 500 people were involved in three to five cases, 41 police officers were involved in more than 6 cases, and the number of individual police officers involved in 19 cases. The Daily Mail also featured that 44% of police officers in the UK admitted to having had inappropriate sexual relations with colleagues. Some British media refer to these "problem cops" as "criminals in uniform". Of this group of "problem police," only 13 were eventually dismissed, or just 0.71 percent of the total. In addition to misconduct, some police officers have been suspected of breaking the law and committing crimes such as corruption, fraud, traffic accidents, violent assaults, posting or disseminating indecent photos, etc.
Internal cleanup
Hundreds of police officers in London could be fired on suspicion of crimes and that police are trying to regain public trust through their efforts, senior police officers said on Jan. 17.
Mark Rowley, chief of London's Metropolitan Constabulary, who was appointed head of the clean-up effort, told the BBC on January 17, "We have tens of thousands of good cops, but there are hundreds of people who shouldn't be here and I'll fix that." We are systematically vetting each and every one of our police officers, especially those documented as involving incidents of domestic abuse or sexual violence. ”
Mark Rowley
According to him, the police currently fire 40 to 50 officers a year for misconduct, which he believes is far from enough to clean up discipline and restore a good image. The ongoing clean-up operation is investigating more than 1,000 allegations of sexual and domestic abuse by approximately 800 police officers. He said that because of the excessive number of people involved, the daily operation of the National Police Agency will inevitably be affected during the entire investigation process, and many tasks will be affected, and he hopes that the outside world will understand and support the clean-up operation.
Scandals continue
Not only in the case of David Carrick, but also some London police officers have proved with their behavior that some police officers are not human in terms of being people. Their criminal behavior has caused many women in London to lose trust in the police and disappointed Londoners, especially the abduction of Evrade.
Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London woman who disappeared in 2021, was tricked by police officers before she was killed that she had violated coronavirus lockdown regulations, was handcuffed and "arrested", and she was brutally kidnapped, raped and killed.
Sarah Evrad
Wayne Couzens, then a member of the elite parliamentary and diplomatic security team of the Metropolitan Police in London, handcuffed her and kidnapped her, where she was strangled and set on fire after "deception, kidnapping, rape."
The police elite was sentenced to life in prison
Wayne Couzens
In addition to kidnapping and murder, other London police officers are also very diverse in terms of crime, and Benjamin Hannan, who was arrested in March 2021, is fortunate to be the first police officer convicted on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist organization. He joined the right-wing extremist group National Action, which was designated a terrorist organization by the British government in December 2016, in March 2016, and Hannan, who joined the Metropolitan Police in March 2018 and was responsible for recruiting new members.
Benjamin Hannan
There are violent crimes such as David Carrick and Wayne Couzens, there are terrorist organizations such as Hannam who play black under the lights, and of course there are those who violate the misconduct of public officials, that is, Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis, two Metropolitan Police Department Crouching Dragon Phoenix.
Police officer Deniz Jaffer and 33-year-old police officer Jamie Lewis were sent to guard the scene on June 8, 2020, after Biba Henry, 46, and her 27-year-old half-sister Nicole Smoman were found dead in bushes in Frient National Park, northwest London. However, they took photos of the two victims and then shared them with colleagues and the public on WhatsApp.
Lewis took a selfie next to the bodies of the two victims, writing when it went online: "Unfortunately, I'm sitting next to two dead birds covered with knife wounds. Javer posted on another WhatsApp group: "I have pictures of the two dead. Tell me who doesn't want to watch. ”
The two were sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
Deniz Jaffer (right) and Jamie Lewis (left)
There is a word with lack of respect for the victim called "picking up the body", and this behavior also put a London police officer in prison, Adam Zaman (Adam Zaman) took a drunk woman from a bar after work, during which he used his police status to get away from questioning, and when he opened the room, he also directly showed his police card to avoid suspicion at the front desk, and finally he sexually assaulted the woman in a luxury hotel. After the victim sobered up, the London police embarrassingly but skillfully staged a good show of the police arresting the police.
Adam Zaman was eventually convicted of rape.
Adam Zaman
There were also Jonathon Cobban, William Neville, and Joel Borders of the Metropolitan Police Department, three officers accused of sending "grossly racist, sexist, misogynistic" messages in chats and joking about assaulting and sexually assaulting women, raping co-workers, and using tasers (stun guns) on children.
William Neville
Joel Borders
Jonathon Cobban
Subsequent
The Metropolitan Police has been the subject of an independent review since 2021, and preliminary findings suggest a "radical" overhaul is needed in dealing with allegations of misconduct against officials.
In the wake of public protests, former Chief Cressida Dick left under pressure for not coping well with discrimination and other misconduct within the police department.
The Independent Police Conduct Office (IOPC), which oversees the investigation, said they believed none of the scandals were isolated and that "this is definitely not a matter of a few black sheep." ”
Priti Patel, a former home secretary, said: "There are serious problems with the atmosphere of the London police. For some disgusting people, being a police officer is a privilege, and they join the police for the sake of privilege. ”
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) also acknowledges that the entire police system may be problematic from the bottom, with "a small number of people attracted to the profession for power".
The Home Office is also investigating misogynistic culture within the police and the Police Academy is developing an action plan to address violence against women among members.