Improvements, but more vetting work needed by Met
A watchdog has published a report.
A new report has found Britain's largest police force has improved efforts to remove people who shouldn't be working in policing, but more still needs to be done.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services found the Metropolitan Police needs to improve vetting of police officers and staff.
The force removed more than 1-thosuand people considered unsuitable for policing.
Metropolitan Police Service’s integrity arrangements have improved, but further progress is needed
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services said: "The Metropolitan Police Service has been proactive and committed in its efforts to remove people who should not be working in policing, but there is still more work to do to further improve vetting, professional standards and counter-corruption arrangements."
"As part of its integrity inspection programme for all police forces in England and Wales, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) assessed the effectiveness of the Metropolitan Police Service in three areas. The force was graded requires improvement in its vetting of police officers and staff, professional standards and counter-corruption arrangements."
The inspectorate found that the force had made improvements in how it manages force culture and poor behaviour.
Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said: “We are grateful for this report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary which reflects the significant progress we have made in delivering higher standards, overhauling vetting, and tackling corruption.
“We have consistently acknowledged that transforming our culture is not something we can achieve overnight. We are partway through this five-year journey and expect to see further significant progress as we continue our work to create a Met that Londoners deserve.”
The Met is continuously adapting and improving its efforts to maintain integrity. We have already made significant changes since this inspection was carried out last September.
This has included the introduction of our new technological capability, which alongside our Lawful Business Monitoring, has allowed us to combine large amounts of data we already hold, and enables us to spot patterns of behaviour within the workforce and act upon them quickly. This technology represents a significant step forward, enabling a strong ‘public health’ style approach focused on early identification, prevention and proportionate intervention.
HMIC’s report highlighted positive areas of work, praising our decision to change policy so that officers and staff must declare if they are Freemasons or members of a similar organisation. It also recognises that the Met is leading policing nationally in many areas, including our contribution to two key legislative changes: new police vetting regulations enabling dismissals for officers not able to maintain vetting and the return of misconduct panel chairing to chief officers.
The inspectorate also helped us understand where things can be improved, and we are pleased that the recommendations they made mirror the pre-existing improvement plans we shared with them at the start of the review.
Work has already been taking place in these areas."