Commander Julian Bennett refused to take a drug test in 2020 after his lodger contacted police alleging drug use
A senior Metropolitan police commander who wrote the force’s drug strategy allegedly smoked cannabis in front of his lodger every day, a gross misconduct hearing has been told.
Commander Julian Bennett later threatened to resign when he was asked to take a drug test on 21 July 2020, a disciplinary panel heard.
Continue reading...Former Met chief given support by findings, but London mayor Sadiq Khan’s move against her remains popular
Amid the claim and counter-claim, the huffing and puffing and the machinations detailed by Tom Winsor’s report on the ousting of Cressida Dick, one thing is clear: there definitely was a political hit job. The mystery is: who was the target?
Winsor’s version has Dick, a hard-working Metropolitan police commissioner, taken out by an ambitious local politician, when the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, had no good reason to.
Continue reading...Relatives ‘caught completely off guard’ by announcement of compensation – and two families have still to settle
The Metropolitan police have been accused of “insensitivity” over their announcement that they have settled compensation claims with relatives of some of the victims murdered by the serial killer Stephen Port.
Families were taken completely by surprise at the public announcement, while claims brought by relatives of two of the victims have yet to be settled, the families’ spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Watchdog refers case back to Met police for its own investigation over sprinter’s claims of aggression and racism
The police watchdog has ruled out an investigation into the Metropolitan police’s treatment of an athlete who was pulled over in his car by seven armed officers.
Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese sprinter based in London, released a video of the incident in central London that took place earlier this month.
Continue reading...Met hurriedly apologised and withdrew images that it initially said showed missing woman in a shop
The Metropolitan police issued pictures of the wrong black woman in an early appeal for information about the missing student nurse Owami Davies, it has emerged.
As the force’s handling of the case faces increased scrutiny, it has come to light that Scotland Yard issued CCTV images on 3 August that it said showed Davies in a shop in Croydon, but in fact showed another woman.
Continue reading...College of Policing for England and Wales is planning policies to deal with harassment and racism in forces after string of scandals
Police leaders have admitted officers were kept on duty who should be sacked as they launched a promised crackdown on those who attack, abuse or harass women.
A series of scandals have rocked confidence in policing, with its leaders under pressure to do more to eliminate what one police chief called “toxic behaviour and [a] damaging culture”.
Continue reading...Athlete and his partner, sprinter Bianca Williams, were stopped and handcuffed two years ago
An athlete who was allegedly racially profiled during a stop and search two years ago has said he was pulled over for a second time by “seven armed officers” while driving home in London at the weekend.
The Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos published a series of tweets and video footage of him being pulled over and questioned by police.
Continue reading...Appropriate adults were often absent during the search, and the majority of children were innocent
The children’s commissioner for England has denounced the Metropolitan police’s record on child protection after new data revealed that 650 children were strip-searched over a two-year period and the majority were found to be innocent of the suspicions against them.
Dame Rachel de Souza said she was not convinced that the force was “consistently considering children’s welfare and wellbeing” after police data showed that in almost a quarter of cases (23%) an appropriate adult was not present during the search, despite this being a requirement under statutory guidance.
Continue reading...Former counter-terrorism chief takes over as force is embroiled in crises over women, race and homophobia
Sir Mark Rowley is to become the new commissioner of the Metropolitan police, after winning the top job in British law enforcement by promising “urgent reforms” to lead the country’s biggest force out of crisis.
Rowley, 57, a former head of counter-terrorism, left the Met in 2018 and returns after time in the private sector. He was selected over the Met assistant commissioner Nick Ephgrave, the other candidate to reach the final shortlist of two.
Continue reading...Exclusive: watchdog’s decision follows nearly 70,000 unrecorded crimes and errors in stop and search
The policing inspectorate’s unprecedented decision to place the Metropolitan police into special measures followed the uncovering of a litany of new “systemic” failings in fighting crime and serving victims, with tens of thousands of crimes going unrecorded and errors in stop and search.
The decision was taken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and follows an inspection that found 14 fresh significant failings, coming on top of a flood of scandals “chilling” in their damage to public confidence.
“Performance falling far short of national standards for the handling of emergency and non-emergency calls, including too many instances of failure to assess vulnerability and repeat victimisation, failures to provide crime prevention advice and failures to properly advise victims on how to preserve evidence.”
“A barely adequate standard of crime recording accuracy, with an estimated 69,000 crimes going unrecorded each year, less than half of crime recorded within 24 hours, and almost no crimes recorded when victims report antisocial behaviour against them.”
Failing to tell some victims investigations into their crime were being dropped.
Not seeking or considering victims’ views.
Poor supervision of some investigations and failures in public protection.
Continue reading...Call comes as Charity Commission considers investigation into allegations Prince Charles personally accepted cash donations
The Metropolitan police has been asked to consider allegations Prince Charles received €3m (£2.6m) in cash for his charities from a billionaire Qatari sheikh as part of the force’s so-called “cash-for-honours” investigation.
The call comes as the Charity Commission reviews whether it should mount its own investigation into claims Charles personally accepted three donations, reportedly stuffed in a suitcase, a holdall and a Fortnum & Mason carrier bag, between 2011 and 2015.
Continue reading...Family of Oladeji Omishore allege police failed to correct reports he was armed with screwdriver
The family of a man who died after falling into the Thames after police repeatedly fired a Taser at him have called for an investigation into alleged misinformation put out by Scotland Yard.
Oladeji Omishore, 41, clashed with officers on Chelsea Bridge, west London, just after 9am on Saturday 4 June. The Met said they were called to reports of a man clutching a screwdriver who was causing a disturbance.
Continue reading...Met police called to help enforcement officers get past crowd of demonstrators after Nigerian man detained for overstaying visa
A man arrested for immigration offences was released on bail after protesters gathered in south-east London on Saturday for hours to block a van he was being transported in from leaving.
Video footage posted on Twitter showed a crowd of about 200 people sitting on the ground in front of the vehicle in Peckham while another clip showed members of the public standing and shouting “let him go”.
Continue reading...Officers claimed they feared being violently attacked, say reports, but campaigners accuse force of ‘trampling all over human rights’
Attenders at Sarah Everard’s vigil were arrested by police officers who feared the event had become an “anti-police protest”, according to reports.
Officers claimed in witness statements first reported by the Evening Standard that they were branded “murderers” by those in attendance.
Continue reading...IOPC watchdog launches independent inquiry into incident on Chelsea Bridge in west London
A man who shot with a Taser by police in London and had to be rescued from the River Thames has died, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said.
Police were called to Chelsea Bridge Road in west London on Saturday morning after receiving reports that a man was armed with a screwdriver and shouting.
Continue reading...Force claimed it approached groups before launch of Project Alpha which scours social media sites
Youth violence experts have said they had no involvement with a police scheme that collects children’s personal data, despite the Met claiming to have consulted them.
Project Alpha, involving more than 30 staff and launched in 2019 with Home Office funding, scours social media sites looking at drill music videos and other content. It has prompted concerns about racial profiling and potential privacy violations.
Continue reading...Those charged allegedly attended outside gathering of more than two when London was under tier 4 restrictions
Six people are being prosecuted by the Metropolitan police for allegedly breaching Covid-19 restrictions during a vigil for Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a Met officer.
According to court documents, those being charged include Dania Al-Obeid, 27, from Stratford, east London; Vivien Hohmann, 20, from Clapham, south London; Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, south London; and Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, from Manchester. Their cases were heard at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Met assistant commissioner will ask Home Office why he was overlooked for top job
Neil Basu has said he will be demanding an explanation from the government about why he was overlooked to be the next leader of the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The Met assistant commissioner, 53, said he would not be reapplying to be director-general after the application process was reopened.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Grant Shapps, transport secretary, does not deny Times report as row grows over further Partygate photos
At cabinet this morning Boris Johnson praised Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, for helping people get back into work. Johnson believes work is the best route out of poverty and, with unemployment at its lowest level for almost 50 years, he is using this as part of his attempt to show there is a Tory response to the cost of living crisis.
According to PA Media, Johnson opened cabinet by saying:
I want to give a special shout out to Thérèse Coffey, the secretary of state for DWP, because under her plans, the Way To Work scheme, since we launched it this year it has got 380,000 people off welfare and into work. That’s the way forward.
I want to see people not on benefits, I want to see them in work - that’s the Conservative answer and that is the answer we are offering to the people of this country.
Continue reading...PM received only one of 126 fixed-penalty notices relating to law-breaking parties, prompting claims Met police bungled inquiry
Civil servants and special advisers have reacted with fury and disbelief after Scotland Yard confirmed Boris Johnson got only one of 126 fines levied for law-breaking parties at the heart of Downing Street and Whitehall.
The Metropolitan police came under intense pressure to explain how it reached its conclusions after Downing Street said officers confirmed no further action would be taken against the prime minister despite him attending gatherings for which others were fined.
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