London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has said he is “disgusted and appalled” by footage of some Metropolitan Police officers at Charing Cross police station after it was exposed in a BBC Panorama documentary.
Serving Met Officers called for immigrants to be shot, revelled in the use of force and were dismissive of rape claims in footage captured by a Panorama undercover reporter.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the footage, which also shows officers making sexualised comments to colleagues and sharing racist views about immigrants and Muslims, as “disturbing” and “sickening”.
Sir Mark Rowley, head of the Met Police, has apologised for the “reprehensible and completely unacceptable” behaviour.
After the BBC sent a detailed list of allegations to the Met, it suspended eight officers and one staff member, and took two more officers off front-line duties.
Mina Smallman, the mother of two murdered sisters, told the BBC’s Newsnight she was not shocked by the allegations. Two Met Police officers were jailed this year after they shared photos of her daughters’ bodies on WhatsApp.
“When people are comfortable and their guard is down, we get to see what they’re really like,” she said.
Ms Smallman added that the Met was “not going to change overnight”. She said “this behaviour has been there for so long, it’s going to take ages to root out”.
Sir Sadiq said “sexism, racism, misogyny and the excessive use of force” had “no place in the police”.
“I have met with the commissioner to discuss directly the issues exposed by the BBC – and its impact on public confidence and trust in the police,” he said, before the BBC programme was broadcast.
“A series of urgent changes have been put in place at Charing Cross police station and across the Met, with more to follow.”
The mayor backed Sir Mark, saying he had confidence in the commissioner’s efforts to kick wrongdoers out of the Met.
The home secretary welcomed the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) “fully and urgently investigating all the issues raised in this report”.
“It is right that the Metropolitan Police have condemned this, and we fully support their pledge to root out those unfit to serve the public,” Mahmood added.
“We have given police chiefs the powers to automatically sack officers who fail background checks and dismiss those guilty of gross misconduct, and we expect them to be used.”
Sir Mark, speaking before he had seen the film’s Wednesday evening broadcast, said that “where there is incontrovertible evidence” of wrongdoing it is likely that accused serving officers would be dismissed within weeks.
“Officers behaving in such appalling, criminal ways, let down our communities and will cause some to question if their sons and daughters are safe in our cells, and whether they would be believed and respected as victims of crime,” he said.
“For that, I am truly sorry.”
The Liberal Democrats called the findings “beyond appalling”.
“The public is being failed, as are the majority of police officers who are doing their best for the people of London,” said the party’s London spokesman, Luke Taylor MP.
“The Home Secretary now has a responsibility to intervene and work with the Met to tackle this behaviour once and for all.”
Paula Dodds, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said it “deplores any discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms – such behaviour has no place in policing or society.
“If officers are proven to be guilty of criminal offences or serious gross misconduct, then we do not want these individuals in the job.”
However, she said “all police officers – like all people – have the right to representation and due process, and not trial by media or documentary”.
Rachel Watson, who leads the IOPC, said she was “appalled by what Panorama has exposed – these behaviours are completely unacceptable and have no place in policing”.
She said an investigation was already under way and hoped the BBC would now share its evidence “to allow our work to progress at pace”.
BBC Panorama’s undercover reporter, Rory Bibb, spent seven months up to January this year as a designated detention officer (DDO) in the custody suite of Charing Cross police station in central London. It is a civilian role which involves working closely with sergeants and constables, but not taking part in arrests.
The station had been the focus of an investigation by the IOPC police watchdog into bullying and discrimination nearly four years ago. It found that some officers had discussed hitting their girlfriends, shared offensive and discriminatory comments and joked about rape in private group chats.
Whistleblowers told Panorama that officers with racist and misogynistic attitudes still worked at the station despite the Met’s promise to root out “rogue officers” and “cultural failings”.
