As a researcher of police occupational culture, I was horrified, but not at all surprised by the recent Panorama programme in which an undercover reporter exposed sexism, racism and general thuggishness among some Metropolitan Police officers.
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, the BBC produced another groundbreaking example of undercover reporting in the world of policing. In The Secret Policeman (2003), journalist Mark Daly joined Greater Manchester Police as a recruit officer. He covertly recorded his new colleagues making racist remarks. This was just five years after the publication of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, and the report finding the Met “institutionally racist”.
This latest Panorama demonstrated unequivocally that the Met still has not rooted out these views in its ranks.
My first thought when sitting down to watch the programme was, “Why can the BBC successfully infiltrate the closed world of police misconduct when the force’s own teams are seemingly incapable of doing so?”
Every police force has a branch called a professional standards department (PSD). They are supposed to gather intelligence on corrupt or bad officers, which can lead to a misconduct tribunal. If gross misconduct is found, the officer may ultimately be dismissed.
The Met has seen several high profile cases of police misconduct in recent years. These offenders – from Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard, to serial rapist David Carrick – have often been dismissed as “bad apples”.
After Carrick’s conviction in 2023, I argued that the Met culture was so toxic that to protect the public (as well as its own good officers), their PSD should employ intrusive workplace monitoring. This should mean using covert devices and undercover operatives, no matter how uncomfortable it may make staff feel.
In 2021, Hampshire police’s PSD used a listening device to covertly record officers using racist language after a whistleblower was brave enough to come forward. I am not aware that this form of evidence gathering has been utilised in the Met.
In his response to the Panorama documentary, Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said he had “disbanded” the team in question. A serving officer has since been arrested over an allegation linked to a Panorama investigation.
But I would like to know that the Met PSD will go further, and conduct a thorough and systematic review of samples of past video footage from each similar team across the force.
Throughout the Panorama episode, officers were wary about talking to the undercover reporter – one actually asked if he was wearing a wire. Despite the horror of the programme as a whole, I was encouraged by this. For the culture to change, any police officer who is a racist or misogynist must be made to feel that they, rather than decent officers, are the ones working in a hostile environment.
I would suggest that a few years ago it was the other way round. We know that Carrick was openly nicknamed “bastard Dave” and Couzens was openly known as “the rapist”. Yet their notoriety among colleagues did not seem to come to the attention of the Met PSD. If Rowley has achieved nothing else, I am hopeful that he has at least reduced the feeling of impunity and being “untouchable” which seemed to prevail among bad officers under previous Met command teams.
Whistleblowers and workplace culture
Of greater concern though was the disturbing evidence of a complete distrust in any whistleblowing procedure. Rowley claimed that over the last four years, “internal reporting has trebled thanks to the courage and conviction of colleagues”.
This is very good news, but Panorama clearly revealed that officers making sexist or racist comments were still protected by higher-ups and the overall force culture, with detractors, who wish to work in a safe, ethical environment, still feeling intimidated into silence.
There is ample research which has shown that casual misogyny towards women in the police service – both officers and other staff – is rife. Panorama has now provided clear evidence of this. Sadly, it seems many women in the police workforce feel they have to silently put up with it.
Currently the police have the highest-ever rate of voluntary resignations on record. More officers than ever are choosing to resign after a short period of service because they quickly realise they don’t enjoy, or feel comfortable, working in the police. Two of the main reasons for leaving early were a sense they needed to “fit in” with the prevailing workplace culture, and discovering that their new job did not match the “values” they expected to find.
Read more: Misogyny in police forces: understanding and fixing 'cop culture'
Police tackle organised crime groups using all sorts of covert methods, including undercover operatives infiltrating gangs to gather intelligence on their activity. The bad officers in the Met who are relentlessly dragging down public trust in not only their own force, but all the UK’s forces, need to be treated like members of an organised crime group. As well as much better initial recruitment vetting, senior leaders must be bold and ruthless in finding out how their staff think and behave, both on and off duty. The BBC has shown them how.
John Fox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
