Bad police officers aren’t ‘breaching standards’ Sir Mark, they’re raping women

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley calls for reforms (Image: PA) How can it be  that  more than 2,000 rotten cops, many of whom have been accused of sexual crimes and corruption,   cannot be sacked because the police disciplinary system won’t allow it. The final say on who gets the boot isn’t down to experienced police chiefs – which it should be – but to a bunch of lawyers called LQCs (legally qualified chairs). So, basically, we have a system that allows people who are paid to enforce the law – to break the law! Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has called on the Government for reforms that give police the power to sack what he calls rogue officers. He says his hands – and those of and police chiefs across the country – are tied because of these idiot processes and he wants the Government to radically overhaul the process of getting rid of bent and criminal cops. He says: ‘I’ve been consistent in calling on the Government to reform police misconduct processes, so that police chiefs can  be more decisive in dismissing rogue officers and restoring public confidence.’ Ex-officer Wayne Couzens convicted for murder (Image: SWNS) It’s bad enough we have to endure the woke culture which has seeped like a poison into our police forces and rendered them all but useless. But to have a situation where actual criminals are allowed to carry on working as police officers is beyond ridiculous. Sir Mark says at the end of last year there were more than 500 officers in the Met who were suspended (many on full pay presumably) because of misconduct investigations but who he can’t sack. So these people – some of whom should be in an actual jail cell –  sit at home all day on full pay with pension perks because outdated police processes are protecting them?   It was Theresa May in 2016 who introduced Legally Qualified Chairs to run police misconduct hearings for the UK’s biggest force in order to stop accusations that the police wouldn’t be hard enough on themselves when cases of misconduct were brought. But it has backfired disastrously because it’s become clear that misconduct hearings led by LQCs dismiss fewer officers than those when police chiefs were in charge.   Says Sir Mark: ‘Hearings chaired by senior Met officers before LQCs were 38 percent more likely to result in dismissal, but now hearings are more than twice as likely to dismiss black or ethnic-minority officers.’ He says the system is too slow, he says he can’t appeal against ‘unduly lenient decisions’ and currently he has more than 200 officers suspended on full pay. We are accountable for our forces and we should be able to decide who is fit to serve in them. No one running a business would accept that they had to carry on employing people who had breached their standards.’ But of course the problem now is about more than what Sir Mark calls ‘breaching standards’. It’s about serving police officers abusing their powers to kill, rape or hurt women. It’s about a culture where bad, bent and violent cops feel able to do exactly what the Hell they like safe in the knowledge that their weasley disciplinary processes are never going to stop them.     Sir Mark even cited a recent case in which an officer wasn’t fired at an LQC-run hearing, despite being found guilty of unwanted kissing and touching in the workplace. How can that be? In any other workplace that bloke would have been kicked out on his ear but these soppy LQC lawyers allowed him to keep his job and his big fat pension. What was the point of a disciplinary hearing if having been found guilty he was let off? In fact, what those lawyers did was give the green light to other officers to push their unwanted attention onto women.     Former cop David Carrick arrested for sexual assault (Image: SWNS) A review by Baroness Casey released in March this year recommended a major overhaul to the Met Police service, including getting rid of officers and staff who should not be serving, renaming the force, splitting up the Met and tougher vetting of new staff and officers. And this tougher vetting of officers is key and it clearly hasn’t been happening. You don’t just suddenly join the police force and decide to become a racist. There must have been red flags against people like David Carrick who clearly wasn’t vetted properly. And just as important it must be made easier for officers to report those officers they believe to be breaking the law. They must not be labelled snitches or accused of treachery against their colleague if they raise concerns about their behaviour.     Because we now know that police officers are accused of rape  at least ONCE a week. Just think about that for a minute. Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that 301 officers from forces around the country have been accused of rape since 2018. Another 500 officers have been investigated for sexual assault during that time with half of those accused reported to the authorities more than once – but STILL they can’t be sacked. Separate data earlier this year showed that 1,500 officers and staff were reported for attacks on women as serious as rape, domestic assault and sexual harassment but just ONE PERCENT of those were sacked. You really couldn’t make this stuff up. Why has it taken so many scandals – the murder of Sarah  Everard by Officer Wayne Couzens for one, and the jailing of his colleague David Carrick who pleaded guilty to 48 rapes when he was a serving officer – for these processes to be overhauled. Why did so many women have to suffer when clearly those processes were allowing serious crime to flourish in the ranks. Because now, thanks to Couzens and Carrick what woman would ever get into a car with a  male police officer? The trust has gone and that isn’t fair on those decent officers trying to do an impossible job.