Sadiq Khan tells Soila Braverman: Don’t postpone moves to clean up the Metropolitan Police Met

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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has accused the Home Secretary of delaying attempts to clean up the police amid growing frustration among senior officers that they still cannot dismiss rogue officers.

Khan wrote to Suella Braverman urging her to stop dragging her feet and to move forward with new laws that would allow police chiefs to weed out corrupt officers.

The mayor’s letter was sent hours after the chief of the Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, lamented on Thursday that it was “inconsequential” that he did not have the power to fire staff who had committed crimes or who he feared might pose a danger to the public.

Forces like the Met are still governed by “police regulations” rather than ordinary labor law, which means that commanders including Rowley do not have the power to dismiss rogue officers.

“As Home Secretary, you not only have the power but also the responsibility to ensure that there is no further delay in legislation to allow Chiefs of Police to dismiss officers who should not be on duty,” Khan writes.

The Mayor, who is responsible for setting the Met’s policing priorities and holding Rowley accountable, added, “We must provide Met leadership with the practical powers they desperately need to take swift action, without getting in the way of regulations that get in their way.”

Rowley admitted that the museum had “hundreds of people who shouldn’t be here” as cases of officers previously accused of violence against women are re-examined.

Sadiq Khan calls for a “guaranteed timeline” to provide police chiefs with the powers they need. Photo: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Rowley has turned dozens of officers from counter-terrorism and organized crime to investigate force irregularities and “remove cancer from the body”.

Kahn, who ousted Rowley’s predecessor, Cressida Dick, for failing to purge the group of rogue officers, stated that although Braverman promised to unveil proposals next month to clean up the police, it was still “unclear” when they would be ready for use by the Met Commissioner.

“Too often government legislation is delayed and pushed into the tall grass,” Khan said. The mayor also revealed that his office had responded to a Home Office advisory about new powers to deal with corrupt officers more than six weeks ago, but has yet to receive a response.

“In order to prove to Londoners the urgency of the challenge, we need a guaranteed timetable that will ensure that Chiefs of Police at the national level have appropriate powers in law to dismiss corrupt officers, while of course ensuring due process. This needs to happen as soon as possible,” he said.

His intervention follows Louise Casey’s review of The Met which exposed widespread racism, homophobia and misogyny. The Met has faced a flood of allegations of sexual misconduct, misogyny, and aggressive behavior after the murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Cousins, a firearms officer, in March 2021.

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In January of this year, David Carrick was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison for assaulting twelve women in 17 years while working at the Met. This case led to Operation Onyx, a review of 1,131 serving officers and staff who had previously faced allegations of sexual offenses or domestic violence. Of those, 196 of those will undergo risk assessments or audit reviews amid concerns that they pose a risk.

All 50,000 Met employees are also screened, according to the National Police Database, used for intelligence. To date, five cases have been examined, with 38 cases of possible misconduct uncovered.

On Thursday, Rowley’s discontent with his inability to root out corrupt officers was evident in radio interviews, when he attacked police regulations that prevented him from firing unsavory employees. Over time these regulations have become Byzantine and complex. So the lack of a clear provision to separate people who fail the re-review process is insane.”

The commissioner added: “People are going to be shocked. Some of the people on that list of criminal convictions are people who were sacked by the Met.” [and then seen reinstated]. “

A source close to Braverman said she moved “decisively” to introduce powers to allow the chief of police to fire rogue officers more easily. “The suggestion that she’s dragging her feet doesn’t make sense.” The Met declined to comment.

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