Not A Fair Cop

"Has Baroness Casey painted the entire institution as beyond redemption? It looks that way. And I'm not sure that is fair or helpful."

A recurring theme in my writing has been the state of policing, with some focus on the U.K. Thus, when Baroness Casey's report into the London Metropolitan Police dropped, I was straight in there. 

The report, commissioned by the Met after one of its officers raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, is causing a media storm. Much is wrong with the Met, but I have an uneasy feeling the whole episode has degenerated into an opportunity to label every officer as a disgusting bigot. 

Emotive labels fill the media coverage, stripped of context and scale. If prejudice is widespread, I believe it is a symptom of a failure of leadership. 

To say the report is shocking is an understatement. The 363 pages detail an organisation that is struggling on many fronts. For example, the Met is not delivering on the core business of preventing and detecting crime. At the same time, the report claims that racism, homophobia and misogyny blight every aspect of the organisation. 

I've taken the time to read the report. For the record, in 1994, I was attached to a specialist unit in the Met, a position that gave me insights, albeit somewhat dated. Further, during my 36 years of policing in Hong Kong, I worked alongside Met officers on several occasions. They always struck me as professional. 

Back in the day, we looked up to the Met — the home of Scotland Yard — as a mythical entity that set standards for the rest to follow. Yet, the whiff of corruption was there; thus, over time, favourable sentiments faded. Then in the 1990s, it became clear that the British police wandered from enforcement into a uniformed social service. Later that drift took them down the road of policing hurt feelings and 'what people are thinking'. I've touched on how this evolved here.

Having waded through the report, I'm overwhelmed. The findings are all over the place—so much of what has gone wrong lays buried in a media narrative focusing on alleged prejudice while ignoring other primary factors. Moreover, if I was the Commissioner and this report landed on my desk, I'd ask, what should I do with this? Where do I begin? 

Has Casey painted the entire institution as beyond redemption? It looks that way. And I'm not sure that is fair or helpful. She even hints at the disbanding of two specialist units. 

Some cool heads are needed because this could evolve into a runaway train with the good hounded out as morale collapses. Short of an unthinkable shutdown or break up of the Met, only a long-haul culture change process with robust leadership at all levels will work. This is not a time for quick initiatives and tick-box projects.

The Hong Kong Police had some success with culture change in the late 1980s and through to the early 2000s, as it transitioned from a colonial force to more community focus. The events of 1977, as the ICAC tackled corruption prompted some serious soul searching that drove change.

Not welcomed by all at the time, the long-term “living the values” ethos changed officer attitudes and helped secure public support. Unfortunately, the events of 2019 rolled back some of that public support as Hong Kong convulsed.  Given the current political climate, I'm sure there is no appetite for the Met to learn from here. 

Before I get into some detail, in fairness to Baroness Casey, she has drilled deep into the Met. Her report cites many individual stories and instances that support the findings. The data is also there. 

Yet it is also worth noting that Baroness Casey has no background in policing. Instead, she comes from social welfare, focusing on rough sleeping and homelessness. Whether that hinterland coloured her judgments, I can't say.

Still unnoticed by the media, what jumped out at me is that cutbacks have blown large holes in the Met's management and organisational structures. These are matters somewhat beyond the control of the police service; responsibility rests with the politicians.

To illustrate the point, to save money, many H.R. functions faced the chop or outsourcing to the extent that the Met could not estimate how many drivers or detectives it needed. 

Similarly, new sergeants couldn't access the online promotion course and thus didn't bother. As a result, they learnt their role from the "canteen culture", which perpetuated inappropriate methods. Again, this affected supervision and how constables develop. 

To save money, the H.R. system evolved into a self-help process without proper training, setting and monitoring expectations, or robust supervision. Given the evident damage done by these initiatives, I'm surprised that the Met can maintain its service level. 

In seeking feedback from officers, one message came back to Casey loud and clear — leadership is not taken seriously. 

This finding is disturbing and needs addressing. Robust and appropriate leadership can and will address many of the cultural issues that manifest as racist and such. Why this is not given more prominence in the report is beyond me. 

Some of the other findings are no surprise as I saw similarities in other large policing organisations. The fact that frontline policing suffered manpower shortages and a lack of experience while specialist units remained fully staffed is not unusual. I saw the same elsewhere. Yet, that doesn't mean it's right. 

When budgets get cut, it is almost inevitable that the specialist units protecting politicians and royalty are spared. They will continue to enjoy excellent training and kit and get to select the best people.  

While the frontline provides the core service to most citizens, it is often the poor relation. To resolve that officers must be rotated; returning them to frontline duties on promotion, and limiting post tenure to reduce corruption opportunities are a must. With proper management systems this is easy. It's not rocket science.  

Likewise, the power exercised by long-serving junior officers in specialist units is something I've seen. Sometimes this is welcomed, given that the knowledge held by these specialists can be beneficial. But "unofficial senior rank" must be discouraged and moderated by a proper chain of command — this brings me back to leadership. 

Still, none of this will resolve the underfunding issues, and overworked staff forced into a toxic environment of risk-managing cases to focus on what can be done. Unfortunately, the report somewhat overlooks this. 

Ultimately, I can only conclude that cutbacks and a lack of courage by senior managers to confront their political masters allowed the Met to drift into its current state. First, the public and politicians must know that effective policing is costly. Then they can decide what to focus on because funds are limited. 

Perhaps chasing non-crime hate reports and other such stuff deserves dropping. After all, the police should not be documenting and investigating hurt feelings. How identity politics warped police priorities to damage the fight against crime is documented in this CIVITAS research paper.  
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There is much to chew on in Casey's report. Although, I do wish she'd have given due regard to funding cuts, poor leadership — including by the Home Office and politicians — and overworked staff as the root causes of the issues she identified. 

Lastly, what must the young constables coming on duty tonight in London be thinking? At the best of times, policing is a thankless task. Yet, now they must venture out to the streets branded as racists, homophobes and misogynists. I wouldn't like to be in their shoes, and I expect that few will volunteer for the role in the future.