MET FAILS ON ABUSE COPS
Only a fraction of Met abuse claims lead to dismissal
METropoliTan police bosses sacked just 12 officers accused of domestic abuse in six years – despite 421 being investigated.
And three in every four internal cases probed by the UK’s biggest force led to no action at all.
The figures uncovered by the Sunday Mirror come just weeks after the London force was plunged into fresh scandal over David Carrick, the protection officer unmasked as one of Britain’s worst rapists.
Domestic abuse survivor Natasha Saunders called our findings “absolutely disgusting”.
A total of 519 Met officers faced 640 abuse claims from 2017 to October. Action was taken against 63 after 421 probes. Twelve were sacked and one resigned. Another nine “would have been dismissed” if they had not quit.
There were 155 allegations against Met officers in 2022 alone – understood to be the most ever.
Our findings raise questions about how seriously the Met takes allegations of domestic abuse.
Campaigner Ms Saunders, 33, who has advised the force, said: “I’m all for innocent until proven guilty but anyone accused of abuse should not be in uniform. If the
police can’t root it out internally how can they protect people? How do you get justice? It’s absolutely terrifying.”
Statistics from 17 other forces reveal 345 cases including claims of stalking and rape – yet just 27 officers were dismissed, with 275 complaints not proceeded with.
Our data was uncovered from Freedom of Information requests. It relates to internal cases rather than criminal allegations.
Harriet Wistrich, of the Centre for Women’s Justice added: “Since March 2020 we have heard from nearly 200 women who have been let down when trying to report police for domestic offences. The consequence of these failures is that abusers can act with impunity and their offending escalates, as we have seen recently in the horrific case of David Carrick.”
Carrick, 48, has pleaded guilty to more than 80 sex offences, including 48 rapes against 12 women over 18 years and is awaiting sentence.