Can the Met police change?

Analysis

BBC

Government, Politics, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How difficult is it for a police force to change? A review of the Metropolitan police by Baroness Louise Casey says racism, misogyny, and homophobia are at the heart of the force. The Met's commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admits 'we have let Londoners down'. Everyone agrees change must happen – but where to start?

Margaret Heffernan meets experts on police reform and former senior officers to explore the organisational challenge that faces any force which wants to transform itself and re-establish public trust. She hears from those involved in establishing the Police Service of Northern Ireland, following the Good Friday Agreement. What were the political and organisational challenges that faced the PSNI in terms of recruitment from two different communities? What lessons might that process offer to the transformation that is needed across other forces? And how would organisational psychologists suggest tackling and turning round long established cultures?

Presenter: Margaret Heffernan Producer: Philip Reevell Editor: Clare Fordham

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
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0:36.0	BBC Sounds.
0:38.0	BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:41.0	Thank you for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that podcasts. I explore whether the Metropolitan Police Service can make changes to its culture and
0:55.2	organization.
0:58.2	Tonight to 10, the Metropolitan Police in deep crisis, accused of systemic abuse against both staff and the public.
1:07.0	The UK's biggest police force finds itself castigated in an official review for institutional racism, misogyny, and for homophobia.
1:18.0	The force has been reeling from a series of scandals in recent years, including the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021 by a serving officer Wayne Cousins.
1:30.0	In March 2021, the murder of Sarah Everard shocked the nation.
1:35.0	Not just because her rapist and murderer was a police officer,
1:39.0	it also prompted criticism of the Met's internal culture and organization, and many people were dismayed by the subsequent
1:46.6	policing of a high profile vigil.
1:49.6	This mix of rage, criticism and sorrow,
1:52.6	revealed an increasing level of distrust in London's police service.
1:57.6	A searing report by Baroness Casey has found that Scotland Yard is corrupted with institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia.
2:08.0	Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has accepted the findings and the
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