Met Police has 100 officers who are not trusted to speak to public

2022-11-24

Met Police chief admits force has 100 officers who are ‘not trusted to speak to public’ but who he ‘can’t get rid of’

Police chief says it’s ‘ridiculous’ he employs cops not trusted to speak to public
He said he had around 100 officers working under ‘very restrictive’ conditions
But he said that he does not have the power to kick them out of the force

The head of Scotland Yard said yesterday it is ‘completely mad’ that he employs 100 officers suspected of misconduct who are not trusted to speak to the public.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said it was ‘ridiculous’ and ‘perverse’ that his force was having to pay officers who can’t deal directly with the public but he does not have the power to kick them out of the force.

Britain’s top officer revealed he had around 100 Met officers working under ‘very restrictive’ conditions due to misconduct investigations or other issues.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I have got about 100 officers in the organisation who have very restrictive conditions on them because frankly we don’t trust them to talk to members of the public… it’s completely mad that I have to employ people like that as police officers who you can’t trust to have contact with the public. It’s ridiculous.’

When asked if the force has been able to get rid of any of them, he said: ‘We’re looking at whether we’ve got any new legal levers but on the conventional approaches we can’t. It’s perverse, isn’t it?’

Sir Mark has been pushing for new powers to allow chief constables to reopen misconduct cases against officers and staff.

Currently it is independent legally qualified chairs rather than police chiefs who decide who should be fired in misconduct cases and forces cannot appeal.

Sir Mark has previously estimated hundreds of his officers are getting away with misconduct or criminal behaviour.

Last month a devastating report on the Metropolitan Police’s disciplinary system found less than 1 per cent of officers with multiple misconduct cases against them have been dismissed.

The head of Scotland Yard said yesterday it is ‘completely mad’ that he employs 100 officers suspected of misconduct who are not trusted to speak to the public

Sir Mark estimated that 10 per cent of the force’s workforce cannot be fully deployed for reasons ranging from medical problems to ongoing misconduct investigations.

He said: ‘It’s not just an integrity issue. It actually goes to the ability to serve the public if you’re restricted in how you can deploy your resources when we’re very busy.’

Around 3,000 officers cannot fully be deployed because they are either injured, suffering mental health problems or not performing adequately.

But Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, yesterday said it was wrong to characterise those officers as abusing the system to get off work.

‘Metropolitan Police officers confront danger on behalf of Londoners every day,’ he said.

‘The number of working days lost to mental health issues among officers and staff has increased by 30 per cent in the past four years – 16 officers are assaulted every day. These colleagues deserve our full support.

‘There are a number of officers who are unable to conduct frontline policing due to illness and injuries sustained whilst engaged in the execution of their duty.

‘Are those officers not worthy of being treated fairly having sacrificed their wellbeing protecting our communities?

‘It’s entirely wrong that the number of non-operational officers are all characterised as people abusing the system to avoid police duty.

‘The bigger picture includes long NHS waits, outsourced telephone Occupational Health all coupled with a toxic long-hours, low support culture.’

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