Nine police officers have been suspended by the Metropolitan Police as an investigation was launched into allegations including excessive use of force and making discriminatory and misogynistic comments.
The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), said on Friday afternoon its inquiry follows a mandatory conduct referral from the Met on Thursday involving nine serving Met officers based at Charing Cross police station, a former Met officer and a serving designated detention officer.
It also received a referral from another force about the conduct of a former Met officer based at Charing Cross who has since transferred.
The officers being investigated range in rank from police constable to sergeant, the IOPC said.
The allegations include excessive use of force, making discriminatory and misogynistic comments, and failing to report or challenge inappropriate behaviour, and are alleged to have occurred while those involved were both on and off duty between August 2024 and January 2025, the watchdog added.
Charing Cross police station has previously come under fire after a 2022 report by the IOPC revealed officers had exchanged highly offensive messages, including repeated jokes about rape, domestic violence and violent racism as well as homophobic language and derogatory terms for disabled people.
The IOPC took the unusual step of publishing the messages in full and said the behaviour it had uncovered was “disgraceful”.
The Charing Cross report was part of a string of damaging scandals to hit the force that led former Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to announce she was stepping down from her role in February 2022.
IOPC director Amanda Rowe said of the new investigation: “These are concerning allegations involving a large number of individuals and we understand there will be public concern, particularly in light of our previous investigation into similar allegations at the same police station.
“We want to reassure the public that we will carry out a robust, independent investigation.
“We understand the Met was alerted to these allegations by a third party and we have written to that party to request that it urgently provides us with information that will be central to our inquiries.
“Our priority at this stage is to secure all of the relevant evidence.”
