[Bones McCoy]

Loki on a ladder - conclusion to Chapter 3:

There is currently no plan for the workforce beyond bringing people in, and no sense of how the thousands of new recruits will breathe fresh life into the force after years of austerity. The vetting system is broken, there is minimal supervision, training and development is not taken seriously, there are no training records and the Met do not know what their workforce needs. People are doing jobs they are not trained to do. Initiative after initiative keeps everyone busy, creating new teams and moving people around but ultimately gets in the way of the core job of keeping Londoners safe and prevents the development of fully developed plans for change.
Leadership is not taken seriously and people are not promoted according to their talents. If they are, it is despite, not because of, the promotion process. The absence of clear structures, systems, expectations and two-way communication in an organisation the size of the Met, allows poor cultures to grow.

This sounds like numbers falling so low that there's no opportunity for mentoring, training or assessment.
Just run to stand still crisis management.

[Yug]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes...

Police forces in England and Wales have been accused of trying to “evade public scrutiny” after an Observer investigation found that the outcomes of dozens of officer misconduct cases have been deleted from their websites.

They include some of the most serious cases of criminality, including that of the serial rapist David Carrick.

An analysis of misconduct trials at 43 forces found the vast majority were either failing to publicise cases, despite a legal obligation to do so, or deleting misconduct cases from their websites after 28 days. Misconduct hearings can relate to any reason an officer is fired from the job including cases related to sexual offences or domestic violence.

The Police (Conduct) Regulations were introduced in 2020 to help forces act with “honesty and integrity”, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, in part by improving the transparency of misconduct hearings.

The law specifically calls on forces to publicise the results of misconduct hearings “as soon as practicable after the officer has been notified of the outcome of the proceedings”.

But analysis of the misconduct cases listed at every police force in England and Wales since December found that the records at 72% of forces were incomplete. Many were missing more than half or all of the misconduct outcomes.

While some forces openly declared on their sites that they removed all cases after 28 days, making use of a loophole in the regulations, in others it was less clear as to whether they had removed cases or simply failed to upload them in the first place...

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... t-hearings

[Watchman]

Police officer jailed for pulling down woman’s top and photographing her
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... SApp_Other

[Yug]

Just another normal day in Plodville. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The elite Metropolitan Police unit that provides U.K. lawmakers and diplomats with armed protection has received hundreds of complaints about the conduct of its officers in the last three years.

In response to a freedom of information request by POLITICO, the Met said officers from the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) unit had received 439 complaints in 2020, 2021 and 2022, including a total of 264 by members of the public.

The unit has been in the spotlight since one of its officers, Wayne Couzens, was convicted of raping and murdering Sarah Everard in 2021, and another serial rapist, David Carrick, was jailed earlier this year. It comes after a review of the wider force found it was institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, with the PaDP singled out for particular condemnation...

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-parl ... aints/amp/

[Samanfur]

GMP again:

Disgraced GMP officers sacked after probe into racist WhatsApp group

[davidjay]

In the story there's some fairly graphic detail that even after decades of following this story closely shocks and sickens me.

[Yug]

Grim reading

Other police forces have higher rates of sexual misconduct and racism claims than Met

Guardian investigation also reveals stark differences between forces in approaches to recording complaints

Ben Quinn and Pamela Duncan
Mon 17 Apr 2023 06.00 BST

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... r-than-met

Three forces – Essex, Suffolk and Staffordshire – had, by proportion, more officers under investigation due to allegations of racism than the Met, according to the snapshot of investigations covering the period of late January and early February.

Meanwhile, two forces – Staffordshire and Bedfordshire – had by proportion more officers officially under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct than the Met.

The figures were obtained by the Guardian through multiple FoI requests, although some forces refused to provide any figures, claiming that doing so could lead to the identification of individuals. This included the British Transport Police.

However, the challenges of trying to understand the scale of the problem and comparing the approaches of different police forces was also illustrated by marked variations in the way different forces record complaints.

[Yug]

The Met cover themselves with glory, again.

Two publishers and the National Union of Journalists have condemned the police after anti-terror laws were used to arrest a French publisher as he arrived in London.

Ernest Moret was searched under counter-terrorism legislation after travelling from Paris on Monday.

His employer claimed he was stopped over his alleged involvement in French pension age protests.

The Metropolitan Police said a man had been arrested over obstruction.

Mr Moret, who works at Paris-based publisher Editions La Fabrique, was detained after travelling on the Eurostar to St Pancras train station to attend London Book Fair.

Officers said they were stopping him under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act - this gives the police wide powers to search people at border crossings to check if they are involved in terrorism, the publishing houses said.

The police do not need any grounds to stop and search people at borders under these powers.

Editions La Fabrique and a London publisher, Verso Books, said Mr Moret refused to give officers the pass codes to his phone, and he was then taken to Islington police station in north London.

The Met said in a statement: "At around 1930hrs on Monday, 17 April, a 28-year-old man was stopped by ports officers as he arrived at St Pancras station, using powers under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000."

"On Tuesday, 18 April, the man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of wilfully obstructing a Schedule 7 examination (contrary to section 18 of the Terrorism Act 2000). The man remains in custody. Enquiries continue."...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65314605.amp

And the 'reason' for this?

They said officers told Mr Moret, who works as a foreign rights manager, he had taken part in demonstrations about President Emmanuel Macron raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 in France - the controversial pension changes were signed into law this week.

In a joint statement Editions La Fabrique with Verso Books said: "The police officers claimed that Ernest had participated in demonstrations in France as a justification for this act - a quite remarkably inappropriate statement for a British police officer to make and which seems to clearly indicate complicity between French and British authorities on this matter.

Did the request for his arrest come straight to the Met, or was it passed on by the Home Office? The whole Department is rotten to the core. Who's taking responsibility for this? Genuine question, as we all know it won't be the Home Secretary.

[davidjay]

Gobsmacking.

[Yug]

We've reached a new low. People being arrested for what they might do.

London(CNN)Several anti-monarchy protesters were arrested in central London ahead of the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, their group has said, as the Metropolitan Police force faces scrutiny for its approach toward demonstrators at the historic event.

Thousands gathered in central London on Saturday to celebrate the once-in-a-generation event. But it also drew demonstrators, with protesters wearing yellow T-shirts booing and shouting "Not My King" throughout the morning.

Republic, Britain's largest anti-monarchy group, told CNN that police -- without providing any reason -- arrested organizers of the anti-monarchy protest...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/06/uk/k ... index.html

Rule of Law does *not" mean the coppers make it up as they go along.

[Andy McDandy]

As opposed to "we are the law, and we rule".

[davidjay]

It gets worse.

[kreuzberger]

Going all woke and soppy about them with their raping.

Well, they were never going to give up that power trip without a fight.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The Met has gone on a charm offensive on Twitter with loads of images of how they are sweet and cuddly and not freedom-denying SA thugs...

Fvh4OnNWwAEqK4c.jpeg (128.36 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

FvdYPg2WwAAUubt.jpeg (107.16 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

FvdXUDhWAAcUcrY.jpeg (170.25 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

FvdXUDfWYAARZnj.jpeg (213.53 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

FvdBIaEWcAEyUC0.jpeg (118.29 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And they've been arresting people filming 'Just Stop Oil' protests. Again...

This is deeply disturbing.

[Yug]

Further to the reports of volunteer safety people being arrested, we now find that the Metropolitan Police have decided that rape alarms are illegal, and carrying some to hand out to vulnerable women is an arrestable offence.

A council says it is “deeply concerned” by reports that volunteers who work on women’s safety were arrested by the Metropolitan Police force in the early hours of coronation day.

The Met said three people were stopped by officers and arrested in the Soho area of central London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit public nuisance at around 2am on Saturday.

Among items seized were a number of rape alarms, the force added...

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-05-07/rep ... rk-concern

Can someone please explain to the Met that their first duty is to protect the public, not to protect the rapists within their own ranks.

[Samanfur]

According to Sky, the news of the so-called rape alarm plot was broken in the Mail.

The head of the PR department at the Met is a former Mail journalist.

And the Night Stars initiative is a partnership between the council and the Met itself.

[davidjay]

And they've been arresting people filming 'Just Stop Oil' protests. Again...

This is deeply disturbing.

Almost as disturbing is the number of "Serves him right he shouldn't have been there" comments. A large number of people will support anything as long as it doesn't infringe on them.

[Youngian]

Tranquilliser darts don’t usually leave a trail of blood so I take it that is a pump action shot gun.

[Watchman]

Well that’s alright then

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ief-police