Despite vowing change, plans set to be released by the NPCC will oppose an admission of institutional racism
Police leaders in England and Wales will decide not to accept that their forces are still institutionally racist, as they try to battle their way out of a race crisis.
Chief constables began considering a public admission in December and have held a series of private meetings among forces to try to find agreement.
Continue reading...London mayor denies claim he gave Cressida Dick ultimatum over Charing Cross officers
Scotland Yard has been forced to admit it was “unacceptable” for one of its official Twitter accounts to apparently criticise the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, leading him to accuse the force of amplifying misleading information.
Khan tackled the suggestion – made in a now-deleted tweet by the verified “Metropolitan Police taskforce” – that he did not understand the rules for disciplining officers.
Continue reading...Confidence in force fell sharply during past five years, with 68% saying Met did a good job in 2017
Public confidence in the Metropolitan police has fallen sharply in the five years Cressida Dick has been leading Britain’s biggest force, figures published on Wednesday show.
Only 51% of those in London said they believed the Met did a good job in their local area, down 17 points compared with the last survey before Dick became Met commissioner in April 2017.
Continue reading...Metropolitan police have launched investigation into allegations linked to Prince Charles charity
Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into cash-for-honours allegations linked to the Prince of Wales’s charity the Prince’s Foundation.
In a brief statement, the Metropolitan police said it had launched the investigation after media reports alleging offers of help were made to secure honours and citizenship for a Saudi national.
Continue reading...Bas Javid says racism is an issue ‘but what I won’t do is describe all of the organisation as a racist organisation’
A senior Metropolitan police officer has said racism is a problem in the country’s largest force.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bas Javid, the brother of the health secretary, Sajid Javid, acknowledged “people who have racist views and are racist” were among the force’s staff.
Continue reading...Telegram posts show far-right groups ‘emboldened’ by physical attack on Labour leader
The Metropolitan Police is investigating death threats against Keir Starmer made in the wake of Boris Johnson’s accusation that he “failed to prosecute” Jimmy Savile.
A cache of evidence documenting the threats was sent to Scotland Yard on Friday afternoon, including a number of apparently identifiable users on the messaging app Telegram who called for the Labour party leader to be hanged or “executed”.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson contacted over alleged parties that took place while the UK was under strict Covid curbs
Boris Johnson has been sent a questionnaire by Scotland Yard over alleged parties in Downing Street, in a move that could raise fresh concerns among Tory MPs about his leadership.
No 10 confirmed late on Friday night that the prime minister received the document, and vowed he would respond to it “as required”.
Continue reading...There was precedent for a commissioner determined to root out misbehaviour. Failure to follow it cost her the top job
When Robert Mark was appointed commissioner of the Metropolitan police in the 1970s he wryly suggested his ambition was to ensure the service arrested more criminals than it employed.
In the five years of his leadership (1972 to 1977) Mark’s success can be measured by the 50 criminal officers he put before a court, and the nearly 500 others who were swept out of the organisation as a result of his ruthless uncovering of the entrenched and institutionalised corruption which had protected them for too long.
Sandra Laville, a former Guardian crime correspondent, is now its environment correspondent
Continue reading...Chief to leave role two years early after London’s mayor accused her of failing to deal with misogyny and racism in the force
Cressida Dick has been forced out as head of the Metropolitan police after London’s mayor accused her of failing to deal with a culture of misogyny and racism within Britain’s biggest force.
Dick’s dramatic resignation was announced just hours after she told a radio phone in that she would stay in post and had a plan to rid the Met of its toxic culture. But when City Hall let her aides know the plan was inadequate, the commissioner decided to boycott a showdown meeting set for 4.30pm and quit instead.
Continue reading...Mayor of London ‘disgusted’ by recent scandals and suggests he is prepared to try to oust commissioner
The mayor of London has signalled he is prepared to try and oust the Metropolitan police commissioner in days or weeks over a series of scandals.
Sadiq Khan said he was “disgusted and angry” by recent failings and that he thought Cressida Dick lacked a plan to boost confidence in the police force which had been “knocked and shattered”.
Continue reading...Kristina O’Connor says detective who was investigating after men tried to steal her phone asked her out
A woman is taking legal action against the Metropolitan police after a detective who told her she was “amazingly hot” while investigating her attack kept his job.
Kristina O’Connor, now 33, said she was sent inappropriate messages by DCI James Mason after he responded to her report of an attempted robbery in October 2011.
Continue reading...Charing Cross station case shows old problems were allowed to fester on social media thanks to culture of fear
Case by case, the idea that the police’s problems with women is the result of a few bad apples rather than a misogynistic culture gets harder to maintain.
The revelations about the hate-filled messages among officers sent via WhatsApp and Facebook at Charing Cross station in central London are exceptionally sickening in their nature.
Continue reading...Angry Tories confront Boris Johnson as report finds many of 16 lockdown events ‘difficult to justify’
Boris Johnson has been left desperately trying to shore up his premiership after the Sue Gray report as detectives were revealed to be investigating 300 photos and 12 events in Downing Street, including a party in the prime minister’s private flat.
Johnson faced a wall of anger from Conservative MPs in the House of Commons after Gray’s investigation concluded that many of the 16 parties were “difficult to justify” and condemned “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 and the Cabinet Office.
Continue reading...PM hopes to move on from parties scandal with plans to make it easier to scrap EU laws and tackle cost of living crisis
Boris Johnson will attempt to seize back control of the government agenda this week with a policy blitz, a Brexit bill and flying visit to Ukraine, as Westminster remains in the grip of paralysis over the Sue Gray and police inquiries into No 10 parties.
Amid frustration in No 10 at the uncertainty surrounding the report on rule-breaking parties in Downing Street, sources said Johnson was determined to deflect public outrage with a schedule of high-profile announcements and photo opportunities that he also hopes will show MPs he remains focused.
Continue reading...Move follows anger after Met police asked civil servant to hold back details in her ‘partygate’ report
A heavily redacted report into Downing Street parties by the senior civil servant Sue Gray will be published imminently, the Guardian understands, after Scotland Yard provoked fury and confusion by revealing it had demanded key details of the worst offending be removed.
MPs labelled the Metropolitan police a broken organisation after the force admitted it had asked Gray to make “minimal reference” in her inquiry report to matters its officers were now investigating. The Met, battered by criticism, insisted it needed to protect the integrity of its investigation.
Continue reading...Force says it has asked for report to make minimal reference to Downing Street events it is investigating
The publication of the Sue Gray report could be delayed significantly after Scotland Yard revealed it had asked for references to matters it is now investigating to be removed.
Key parts of the long-awaited report on allegations of parties in No 10 that may have broken Covid rules could be pared back after the move.
Continue reading...Analysis: Cressida Dick has had ringside seat for some of Met’s past painful encounters with politicians
The 48 hours before Cressida Dick’s bombshell announcement of a criminal investigation into “partygate” was intense, busy and momentous for the leadership of the Metropolitan police.
It was only on Sunday that the Met decided it had enough evidence to merit a criminal investigation into claims of parties in Downing Street and Whitehall, attended by those who made the onerous lockdown rules.
Continue reading...Most of young people were victims of knife crime and were killed by other teenagers
London has recorded its highest ever level of teenage homicides in a single year after two boys were killed on Thursday.
A 15-year-old was stabbed to death in a park in Croydon on Thursday night, while a 16-year-old died after being stabbed in Hillingdon.
Continue reading...Shoddy investigation into serial killer also result of underfunding, says producer of BBC drama about murders
Three victims of the serial killer Stephen Port might still be alive today were it not for a shoddy police investigation that was the result of “ineptitude, poor systems and underfunding”, the producer of a new drama about the crimes has said.
Jeff Pope is senior producer of Four Lives, a dramatisation for BBC One of the murders of four young gay men: Anthony Walgate, 23; Gabriel Kovari, 22; Daniel Whitworth, 21; and Jack Taylor, 21.
Continue reading...Officers were called after man with a gun was seen entering a bank and bookmakers in west London
A man has been shot dead by police after officers stopped a car near Kensington Gardens in London.
Officers were called to reports of a man with a firearm seen entering a bank and a bookmakers in Marloes Road, Kensington, at 3.04pm, the Metropolitan police said.
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