Meet the Chief of Police: It’s crazy that I can’t fire ‘high’ officers who broke the law | Metropolitan Police

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The head of the UK’s largest police force has said it is “crazy” that he cannot sack “high” officers who break the law.

Responding to revelations in the Guardian newspaper that 150 officers were under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct or racism, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, admitted that force checks had not been sufficient.

Challenged about the numbers, Rowley said, “We’ve had some very troubling cases with officers who committed crimes while there were police officers, and yet I’m not allowed to fire them. It’s kind of crazy.”

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today show about the 150 cases, he added: “The investigation needs to be done – not all of them will have a case to answer, but many will.”

He added, “We’ve had some officers who we’ve fired, but other statutory bodies who have the power to reinstate them, have done so. So I have officers who we’ve decided should not be police officers and yet I have to keep them. It seems strange – I’m the commissioner, but I can’t say what my workforce is.” .

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley: “I am the Commissioner, and yet I cannot determine my own task force.” Photo: Kirsty O’Connor/Penn

Rowley said he had the government’s backing to quickly change the police recruitment system. “The Home Secretary and Prime Minister have been very helpful in ordering a review that I hope will change the rules to make it easier to move bad guys.”

Activists questioned how rogue officers were recruited. Rowley said: “There have been cases where there were warning signs and our screening wasn’t good enough. That’s why we’re stepping up that.”

Rowley has also expressed concern about low levels of police pay which are forcing some officers to rely on food banks.

He said, “I worry about the cumulative effect of the pay challenge over many years. Front-line officers have lost about 14% in real terms over more than a decade.”

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He added, “They have no desire to strike; they are not allowed but they are frustrated. I have seen data on police officers using food banks, which is really concerning.”

Rowley also said he wanted more flexibility about the type of people recruited to work in the police force.

He said: “There are going to be people with really specialized skills that would make them a great detective in the fraud world or the cyber world, and they probably wouldn’t do so well in a drunken encounter on a Friday night. Some flexibility about that.”

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