Pc David Carrick pleaded guilty to 49 offences, including 24 counts of rape, against 12 women between 2003 and 2020 (Herts Police/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)Police chiefs have said legitimacy in the profession is “hanging by a thread” after rapist David Carrick was exposed and called for reforms to make it easier to catch other serving offenders.
Chief Constable of British Transport Police (BTP) Lucy D’Orsi expressed her shame and anger that a fellow officer had been free to carry out his 18-year campaign of abuse.
Humberside Police’s Chief Constable, Lee Freeman, called it “one of the darkest weeks for policing that I have known” in his career of nearly three decades.
On Monday, former Metropolitan Police officer Carrick, 48, admitted 49 criminal charges including 24 counts of rape against 12 women, making him one of the UK’s most prolific known sex offenders.
I feel that the case of Carrick, along with other prominent cases that regrettably precede it, means police legitimacy is hanging by a thread
Carrick faced complaints about his behaviour before he joined the force in 2001, then again as a probationer in 2002 and numerous times throughout his policing career until 2021.
He was only suspended from duty in October 2021 when he was arrested for rape, and his pay was finally stopped in December 2022 when he admitted the majority of the criminal charges he faced.
The former officer, who was sacked from the force on Tuesday, used his position within its ranks at first to win over his victims’ trust and later to intimidate them.
In a blog post on the BTP website, Ms D’Orsi warned that gaps in the current system could allow other serving offenders to “fall through the cracks” and called for a debate on “regulatory reform”.
She wrote: “If I was to commit a crime, get arrested and give my details, there is no obvious system check that would flag that I’m a police officer if I didn’t choose to tell them.
“Yes, you read that correctly. On arrest, my DNA and prints would be taken and checked against national forensics databases.
“Even though I’ve provided my biometric samples to the police (my employer), the datasets are not run together to identify a match.
“As it stands today, I could be arrested by the police and nobody but me would know I am the police. In my view, this is a priority issue for our attention. Otherwise, others could fall through the cracks and go on to do harm.”
At times like this, I find myself awake at night wondering how we can strengthen our approach, stopping the likes of Pc Carrick from the very moment an allegation is made
She added: “It’s about time we understood and closed the gaps.”
The chief constable said she was “angry” that Carrick used his status to gravely harm women and felt “shameful” that he was free to abuse his victims for so long without alarm bells ringing.
“At times like this, I find myself awake at night wondering how we can strengthen our approach, stopping the likes of Pc Carrick from the very moment an allegation is made,” she said.
Her thoughts were echoed by Mr Freeman, who said public trust in the profession will continue to erode unless police move from being “the silent majority to being active guardians of our culture and behaviours”.
“Here in Humberside, I feel that we have a collective responsibility to reflect and recognise that the events in London also directly impact on us and how our communities see us,” he said.
“Indeed, this is already having an impact.
“I feel that the case of Carrick, along with other prominent cases that regrettably precede it, means police legitimacy is hanging by a thread.”
Mr Freeman said it is “hollow and indefensible” to claim incidents in which officers use their status for sexual gain or misconduct are similar to cases in other professions where teachers or doctors have abused their position to cause harm.
“(That) fails to recognise the unique position that policing has in a liberal democracy,” he said.
“As members of the police service, many of us have the right to take away another person’s liberty, by the use of force if necessary, and detain them for up to an initial 24 hours.
“This power is conferred to us on the basis that everyone of us is completely trusted.
“Right now, I feel that this trust has been severely damaged.”
