London's Police suffers from racism, misogyny, homophobia: review

LONDON - Fundamental problems, institutional discrimination, and a lack of accountability and transparency have been found in London's Metropolitan Police (Met), an independent review said on Tuesday.

"Discrimination is tolerated, not dealt with and has become baked into the system," the review said, noting that there is routine misogyny, deep-seated homophobia as well as institutional racism in the Met, Britain's largest police force.

The review was conducted by Baroness Casey, who was appointed in 2021 to lead an independent review of culture and standards into the Met following the kidnapping, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard by a Met officer.

According to the review, the Met's frontline policing, day-to-day point of connection with Londoners, reactive capabilities and response levels were weakened as the Met force, largely white and largely male, continues to miss out on the talent it needs to improve its effectiveness in policing London, with its diverse nationalities, ethnic groups and sexuality.

The review added that there is declining public confidence and trust in the Met, with people from Black and mixed ethnic groups having even lower trust and confidence in the Met, scoring 10 to 20 percent lower than average on trust and 5 to 10 percent lower on confidence.

The review stressed that changes need to be made to create "a radically improved new London Metropolitan Police Service."

"We have let Londoners down," Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said when making apologies on Tuesday.