The Casey Review Which Shook The Met
Reflections on the Casey Review
It was a sadly predictable scene which will doubtless be repeated time and time again following the publication of the Casey Report. ULEZ protesters were gathering in Trafalgar Square on the Saturday before publication but after the contents had been leaked. A male approached two police liaison officers, identifiable by their light blue tabards. He wasted no time in accusing them of being misogynistic, corrupt racists. One of the officers politely responded, attempting to explain that whilst there clearly were issues, he and the majority of officers were not.
The male quickly escalated the conversation to the point where he was shouting at the officers, “Arrest me then, go on, arrest me.” There was never, even the remotest indication that the officer was contemplating arrest. The male, later identified as an individual who attended anti-lockdown/anti-vaccine protests and who sported a prominent Hells Angel logo on his jacket, then wandered off to meet up with a group of fellow protesters. It should be mentioned that the ULEZ and a separate anti-racist protest passed off without incident.
It’s now two
weeks since the publication of Baroness Casey’s review. I’m sure that if I were
a front line Met officer, I would be viewing the streets of London with even
more apprehension than usual over the next few months. The Casey Report will
attach itself to each and every white male Met officer like a badge of shame.
Even I, as a retired officer with 32- years- service, feel as if I’ve been
thrown under the proverbial bus.
Early Approbation
The first section of the Casey review however has won the approbation of both serving and retired officers. The Baroness hits nail after nail on the head as she describes the absolute chaos that flowed through the Met as cutbacks began to bite. The disastrous departure from borough policing to unwieldy Basic Command Units (BCU’s) was unerringly accurate as was or is, the plight of the PBR (Poor Bloody Response officers).
Issues around supervision and specialist, overworked, under-resourced units are graphically described including the loss of vital rape evidence due to faulty, overcrowded freezers. The effect of demanding and indeed traumatic situations upon the mental health of officers is alluded to, albeit but briefly but no connection was made as to the consequences of trauma to some officers in terms of personality changes, PTSD and personal relationships.
Police social media carried numerous extracts from this section of the review and there was some sympathy and praise by the Baroness for those officers at ‘the sharp end’ trying to make the best of a shambolic situation exacerbated by appalling management. That sympathy and empathy seemed to dissipate as the pages of the review were turned.
Above:Extract from the Casey Review.
Given the chaotic state of the Met in so many respects it’s of little surprise to see that in the Met’s own staff survey only 29% of officers state that they believe that the public trust police to keep them safe.
Yes, as Baroness Casey would be only too aware, much of the rest of the 363- page report portrayed the Met as a cesspit (or snake pit, see the final paragraphs) of racism, misogyny and homophobia.
Most officers would agree that across the Met there are colleagues who, most certainly, should not be in possession of warrant cards. I’ve said publicly on previous occasions that during my 32-years-service I encountered about 40 officers who, for one reason or another, I had no time for. About one-third of these were senior officers.
I suspect then, as indeed now, we have a situation where undesirable individuals tends to be drawn to each other rather in the way of school bullies who always seem to find kindred spirits and form a corrosive group. I’ve no doubt that pockets of these can be found across the Met.
The report states that, in essence, there is a culture at management level of ‘doing the legs’ of those who step out of line perhaps by ‘whistleblowing’ or speaking out. Criticisms have been levelled at serving officers by police critics, including that small cotchel of former officers who habitually criticise police, that they haven’t been prepared to report colleagues for misconduct. In 2014, following the revelations of PC James Patrick, I did write a piece for a now defunct online magazine which referred to the issue together with a number of ‘case studies’ where those who stepped up to the plate suffered as a consequence.
However, to mitigate against this, is the Met’s own staff survey which shows that 72% of those responding stated that they were confident that inappropriate behaviour would be dealt with. 81% said they would feel confident in challenging inappropriate behaviour.
Totally tainted by misogyny?
I also stated in recent interviews that I believed probably every female officer has experienced some form of misogyny during their service. That could run from extreme criminal acts of sexual assault to jokes of dubious taste, to simply avoiding posting two female officers together in a vehicle. Whilst 12% of female respondents to the survey (see below re IPSOS) stated that they had been the subject of what are basically crimes, I expected a much higher figure than 33% in terms of respondents experiencing sexism.
Of course, what the report doesn’t tell us but some comments on social media do, is how many officers are enjoying or have enjoyed thoroughly fulfilling and rewarding careers largely or totally untainted by misogyny. Almost 1500 female officers have retired over the last ten years and it would have been interesting to have canvassed their opinions. The number of female officers and staff who have served over the last 10 years totals just over 33,151. Again, it would be interesting to see the responses of all.
The question which should be put to all the above is as follows; “During the course of your career, have you found the overwhelming majority of your male colleagues to be both professional and trustworthy?”
I suspect that the answers would, at least partially, dilute the current antipathy that exists towards male Met officers.
The same question, with the omission of the word, male could also be used for gay and ethnic minority officers.
However, it remains the case that the unspeakably vile actions of Couzens and Carrick has illustrated the sad fact that there are male officers in the Met who are predatory and threaten the safety of females whether colleagues or members of the public. Hopefully some of many excellent officers in the Met, both male and female, will be using their skills to identify them and eject them from the service.
The Vigil on Clapham Common.
The vigil for Sarah at Clapham Common came in for particular criticism from the Baroness who seemingly ignored the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary which, having been deputed to investigate, largely exonerated the police operation.
More telling was a timeline video documentary by anti-racist campaigner Marc Lister which showed clearly events unfolding and who was responsible for the for the unpleasant scenes. The inevitable conclusion, as confirmed by independent photo journalists, that it wasn’t the police.
As I recall there were just two women who ended the night in police custody and no-one ended up in A&E.
Racism, stop and search and staying alive.
A familiar London scene. (Photo; courtesy Crime Scene Images).
The Baroness’s comments in relation to the Met’s ‘racism,’ were also scathing. The black community were ‘over-policed and under-protected.’ The assertion that the level of force was ‘eye-watering’ perhaps lost some of its impact with vivid pictures of the French police dealing with protesters during concurrent demonstrations.
Certainly, in discussions and when giving presentations to Jamaican police officers when I was deployed there, they were of the opinion that the British police were admired but that they were ‘far too soft.’
In a country
with a population the size of West Midlands, we were only too well aware that Jamaican
police controversially shot dead more than 200 suspects a year. They have now
brought that figure down to around 90. Even that could be described as
‘eye-watering.’ Having said that, whilst we encountered some Jamaican officers
who later proved to be corrupt, most, who faced real dangers, were of the
highest calibre and we knew we could rely on them in life-threatening
situations.
I should also add, before incurring the wrath of the Jamaican Tourist Board, that just about every UK law enforcement who worked in Jamaica inevitably fell in love with the country and its people to the extent that some now reside there. It is a stunning country which is safe for tourists. I, personally, always felt safer in the so- called garrison areas than I do in certain areas of London.
The Baroness asserted that the black community in London suffered from a disproportionate use of force by police. There was no cogent exploration of why that might be the case. Could perhaps it be that the low level of trust, engendered by activists, the media plus the conduct of a minority of officers (and now by the Casey Review) is a key factor? Clearly if a BAME youth or young man is approached by those he regards as brutal, racist oppressors then that encounter may possibly not go well.
The collapse of community policing in London, which has rightly concerned the Baroness, can only have contributed to the above- mentioned tensions.
However, a report published in November last year by Anne Longfield, the former Children’s Commissioner who now heads the ‘Commission for Young Lives’ stated that the government should take the exploitation of Britain’s youth as seriously as terrorism. She went on to say that Children as young as nine were running drugs and 200,000 children were vulnerable.
Her report also said that; “those most at risk are teenagers growing up in poverty in deprived areas and they are disproportionately from black, brown and other ethnic minority backgrounds.”
This surely
provides some explanation as to the police activity in those deprived areas of
London where gangs and violence flourish. The Baroness does, amidst the reams
of condemnation of Met police racism, state that; “And in every
year since at least 2002-03, Black people were at least twice as likely to
be the victim of a homicide. The most recent data shows
Black people were nearly six times more likely to be murdered in London.”
The London Assembly in February last year passed a motion which included the following: “This Assembly is concerned that despite making up only 13% of London’s total population, black Londoners account for 45% of London’s knife murder victims, 61% of knife murder perpetrators and 53% of knife crime perpetrators.”
The Baroness criticises stop and search by stating most are for drugs and only 20% show a positive result which even I, (‘O’ Level maths failed) can work out as one in five. The Met seize between 300 and 400 deadly weapons a month through stop and search; each one is a potential life saver. Looking at stop and search from another perspective, again not looked at by the Baroness, is that each victim of a fatal stabbing or shooting which took place on a London street, would still be alive if their assailant had been stopped and searched before encountering their victim; that victim, of course, in London, is likely to be disproportionally black and young.
Each stop and search that results in confrontation is potentially career threatening for the officer or officers and perhaps is even more so now by virtue of this report.
With the exception of where Section 60 searches are publicised, stop and search is not supposed to be a deterrent. However, the consequences if officers publicly step back from using that power, or are banned from using it, are likely to be horrendous. That those contentious stop and search powers are clearly a deterrent was shown when Theresa May, as Home Secretary, intervened; stop and search reduced and knife crime increased.
The Baroness points out that the majority of stop/searches were for drugs. She failed to extend that research in order to ascertain how many drugs searches resulted in an arrest for weapons. One piece of research which can be located was conducted by the Police Foundation stated that; “Over the longer period from October 2015 to August 2016, 34.5 per cent of arrests for points/blades resulted from drugs stops and searches (303 from a total of 878), while only 26.3 per cent (231 out of 878) resulted from points/blades stops and searches.”
This will result in an arrest for weapons and drugs.It’s clear that Baroness Casey is hostile to stop and search, quoting studies and opinions which doubt its effectiveness. She seems to have come perilously close to suggesting its abolition but if she and those she consulted doubt its effectiveness, why not suggest a six- month moratorium on the following lines.
The complex world of gangs, drill music and death.
The following are familiar to many children, teenagers and young adults as well as London’s police: Harlem Spartans, Kuku, Zone 2, Moscow 17, SIRAQ, 67, Active Gang, N-Gang, Kensal Green, Drillford, 7th (E.7), 16th (E.16) Holly Street, Stokey 16, Beaumont Crew, Loyal Soldiers E11, Rayners, NPK (Northumberland Park Killers), OFB (Orginal Farm Boys-Broadwater farm), Wood Green, 3X3 (Edmonton N9). These are just a selection of the plethora of London’s street gangs. The complexities of gang politics and alliances are illustrated below. For the uninitiated ‘opps’ means opposition/opponents.
Again, there was little reference in the Casey Review or indeed in the report by the Children’s Commissioner concerning London gangs who for some time have been extending their reach beyond London in terms of influence and drugs.
Many of London’s gangs are inextricably linked to drill rappers with those gangs having one or more lead rapper(s) who have to acquire a reputation beyond rapping. A number of rappers have died because of gang violence while others have been imprisoned.
A rapper who ‘loses’ face has to restore his reputation or the number of hits he (very few she’s) receives on social media, will decline rapidly. Leading gang rappers have tens and some, hundreds of thousands of followers. Drill music songs can receive literally millions of views and individual rappers are major celebrities in their own right. Gangs are rather like the shifting sands; some wither and die while others have been in existence in some way, shape or form for more than 20 years. Local secondary schoolchildren will be only too aware of the gang activity in their area and indeed schools will have to cope with younger gang members as pupils.
The influence of gangs extends, as suggested above, to county lining with children being exploited in respect of drugs distribution and supply.
Gangs are linked to various aspects of youth culture and there are You Tube ‘gang’ news channels and youthful producers who normally produce accurate, watchable documentaries.
Almost 200,000 views. Almost 79,000 subscribers.
Also featuring on You Tube are ‘scoreboards,’ which show conflicts between two rival gangs; so many points are awarded for a murder, a stabbing, a shooting, an assault or causing a rival to flee for his own safety.
Aside from murders, many of these assaults will not find their way onto police crime reports as the victims will simply not report the relevant incidents (snitches get stitches). Superglue is used for the ‘self-treatment’ of relatively minor wounds while some medical practitioners will assist ‘off the record’ thus avoiding police attention. I suspect, however, that unless the financial cuts have bitten too deeply, those You Tube items will be providing a useful use of intelligence to police thereby assisting in monitoring gang tensions.
Gang issues are inextricably linked to sections of the Casey Review, even if they haven’t been considered in any depth, and inevitably present huge challenges to Met officers who will be the ones attending stabbings and shootings.
Police training in Emergency Life Support has improved immeasurably over the years since the death of Stephen Lawrence. Very often they are on the scene of stabbings and shootings before paramedics and very often they will save lives, frequently young black lives. On other occasions, despite their best efforts and those of paramedics, they will suffer the agony of watching young lives ebbing away. Little mention of these scenarios in the Casey Review.
The trauma of such an incident could be seen in footage the showed the aftermath of a horrific quadruple stabbing in Camberwell where police are shown rendering first aid to badly injured youths, one of whom was reportedly disembowelled. (Hyperlink to https://youtu.be/m0ygiHA6Wng )
Below is an extract from an earlier article penned by me about a week ago. Amazingly Operation Trident did not feature in the Casey review.
Operation Trident: The way forward?
In the
1980’s, so called yardie criminals began to cause serious problems on the
streets of London. In the 1990’s several policing initiatives came and went,
including the disastrous introduction of an informant from Jamaica. The black
community demanded action. Operation Trident was launched as an intelligence
gathering unit in 1998.
In 2000
Trident became fully operational. Led by a succession of superb senior
officers, it achieved remarkable results in terms of arrests, charges,
sentencing and, where those convicted were from abroad, deportations. More
importantly, the operations won community support while engagement with that
community via the Independent Advisory Group was a key factor. Trident and its
logo became a trusted brand both here and in Jamaica. By 2010 its focus, began
to move away from the black community despite the fact that Trident and some
superb policing had gained its trust. The death of Mark Duggan was effectively
the end of what could have been a template for the Met as a whole. Perhaps it
still could be.
Unfair discipline.
In terms of
the Met and race issues it was however, disturbing to see how black and ethnic
minority officers were over-represented in the discipline process. Some may
justify this by referring to the much- criticised view of the HMICFRS inspector
Matt Parr who stated:
This
perception that standards had been lowered to recruit more minority recruits is
one which has lingered for some time. Indeed, many years ago, I made an
unsuccessful application to the Positive Action Team and was asked at the
interview whether I would support a lowering of standards in order to recruit
more officers from minority groups. I did learn later that I gave the correct
answer of ‘no.’
However,
perhaps that this perception exists at all, should mean that those discipline
cases involving individuals should be ‘drilled down,’ into with a view to
ensuring justice and perhaps compensation for those who may have been the
victims of conscious or, indeed, unconscious bias.
Having said
that, there are concerns nationally that as the cuts began to bite, the
recruitment, vetting and training of all recruits has become a shambles. Whilst
the majority of new officers have, despite the woeful situation into which they
have plunged, proved up to the job, a disturbing minority have not and this
issue transcends genders, sexuality, race and religion.
Children
as young as eight!!
Race also
proved an issue within Rachel De Souza’s report as Children’s Commissioner, concerning
the strip searching of children. A detailed response to that report would make
this piece even more unwieldy. Suffice it to say that the media headlines
tended to read ‘children as young as eight,’ when closer examination revealed
it was one child aged eight in four years. Strangely there was no explanation
as to the circumstances of that search.
In total,
the report revealed that 2,847 children, up and including the age of 17 had
been strip searched over a four year period by officers from across 43 forces.
The majority, as would be expected, featured the Met. 2164 of those were aged
16 and 17. The issue around the disproportionate number of black children
searched could, to some extent, be explained via the report by Rachel De Souza’s
predecessor Anne Longfield. The two case studies referred to by the Children’s
Commissioner strongly suggested that both subjects proved challenging and not
just to police.
Child Q
featured prominently and whilst the search clearly should not have occurred in
the way that it did, there are many questions there which may never be answered
in order to ensure her continued welfare. However, that which happened, clearly
should not have done.
There can be
no doubt that errors have been made and it would appear that there are huge
issues here in respect of; a) the training of officers and b). the level of
knowledge held by officers in the ever- increasingly complex world of policing.
Cuts and the cutting of corners plus, in order to save money, an over-reliance
on computerised learning, have all taken their toll.
Nevertheless,
there was particular concern at this statement by Dame De Souza when appearing
on ITV.
“"It's all clothes off, a visual look at
private parts and even touching and moving them."
Strip searches never
leave those being searched totally naked while ‘touching and moving parts,’ is
a huge ‘no no’ for even the most ignorant of officers. That is the role of
medical professionals. ‘Touching and moving,’ would amount to an indecent
assault.
Former police officer and founder of the Public Safety
Foundation, Rory
Geoghegan has written a thought provoking and well received article that deals
with issues raised by Rachel De Souza. The
inconvenient truth behind the strip-searching of children by police
(substack.com)
However, the question of the strip searching of children and indeed adults has served a useful purpose in that forces across the country will now ensure that their officers and relevant staff are fully trained and correct procedures followed which clearly is essential given that the exploitation of children appears to have reached unprecedented levels while countless malevolent gangs are exercising their considerable influence across London.
Given that the Casey report consists of 363 pages, it clearly isn’t possible to deal with all the points raised in this relatively short article. The media will select those sections which fit their agenda which, almost invariably will be hostile to police. That results in no probing questions being asked in respect of the conclusions or methodology.
Hundreds to go?
The Commissioner has stated that he wishes to rid the Met of hundreds; there is even mention of thousands thus the public, if faced with a police officer, especially a white, male police officer, will probably conclude the worst.
Met officers will probably have already told their children to lie when it comes to the occupation of Dad; if it’s Mum who’s in the job, she may well be considered a victim.
Those officers who are gay, black, Asian or from another minority group may also be faced with questions as to how they could possibly belong to an organisation overwhelmingly consisting of bigots.
IPSOS, who seem to have carried out the relevant research appear to have contacted all Met employees with some form of questionnaire or survey. They received 6,751 replies from officers, staff and volunteers. The total Met workforce would number somewhere between 46,000 and 47,000 at this time.
IPSOS also stated the following: “Due to the survey methodology, the survey reflects the perceptions of those who took part and is not necessarily representative of all Met Police employees and volunteers.”
It is surprising that the survey/questionnaire cannot be viewed as part of the report.
That poses the question as to how many of the workforce would respond if they were generally satisfied in terms of their role with the Met and their relationship with colleagues. Certainly, I can only remember completing one staff survey which was in my final year and after a major falling out with my senior officers. My contempt for those individuals was reflected in my response, however later reflection enabled me to come to the conclusion that I had completed a generally rewarding and enjoyable 32 years with the bonus that the overwhelming majority of my colleagues were good people.
There seems have been little attempt by the Casey Review team to provide a degree of balance in terms of those from minority groups who have worked or are working for the Met and who, overall, have enjoyed or are enjoying rewarding careers despite the occasional ‘bump in the road,’ with those who the Met would be better off without. That of course, shouldn’t trivialise the most serious criminal offences committed by officers which can blight, ruin and in that one dreadful instance, end an innocent life.
There is little in the report or subsequent comments by high- ranking police officers, which suggests that there is any sort of issue with malicious complaints. Whilst the undesirables need to be gone, there seems to be a move akin to that which led to the Operation Midland disaster; namely that all those alleging wrongdoing need to be believed. The review is unquestionably correct in asserting that the Met’s disciplinary process is not fit for purpose. There is, however, a danger that the police hierarchy favour a system which could see, as in the past, senior officers heading misconduct boards and simply dismissing all who appear before them. Those ‘Judge Jeffries,’ (the hanging judge) type senior officers are well known to the rank and file hence the independent legal chairs who sit on police discipline boards.
The appalling and sickening crimes of Couzens and Carrick have placed the Metropolitan Police under the spotlight while other forces have also been subject to scrutiny. Decades ago, in the Met, Police Orders were distributed on a Friday. Most of the contents were ignored except a well-thumbed page towards the end. That section contained limited information concerning officers who had been dismissed or required to resign; I never did understand the difference. The name of the errant officer was never published but the nature of the misconduct was stated as was where he or she served. The rumour mill very often took care of the missing details.
There was also, according to rumour, another form of unofficial cleansing which involved a strong suggestion by a senior officer that the errant subordinate might like to voluntarily resign.
Recently, it was decided that transparency was essential and full details of errant officer would be placed in the public domain even before a disciplinary hearing.
In addition, even if an officer resigns, his or her case is still heard and the result published. A likely outcome whether the officer has resigned or not, is that, if a case is proven and the verdict is dismissal, details of the officer in question will be placed on a register which effectively bars him/her from being employed in just about any law enforcement capacity.
A sense of proportion
The Commissioner has stated that to root out racists, misogynists, homophobes and the corrupt, internal cases which effectively have been NFA’d during the last ten years will be re-examined. The Met’s male workforce over the past ten years approaches 60,000 in total. That’s around the capacity of Arsenal’s Emirates stadium. If all those individuals were seated in the stadium and the hundreds who the Commissioner wishes out of the Met or who should have been shown the exit door, were ‘beamed up,’ the resultant empty seats would be barely noticeable. There would not be glaring gaps in the stadium.
Similarly, the total Met workforce over those ten years is around 92,000. Again, if the entire workforce was seated in the 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium with 2,000 locked outside, the ‘beaming up’ of hundreds would again barely be noticeable. The point being made here is that despite the attention rightly being paid to the reprobate minority, the overwhelming majority numbering tens of thousands of serving or retired officers and staff are honest, committed and trustworthy.
It isn’t of
course just the Met and other police forces who are currently in the spotlight.
Firefighters nationally have recently been accused of the same undesirable characteristics as police.
In
Parliament there are 430 male MP’s, 56 of whom are under investigation. Dame
Laura Cox was scathing in her investigation, commenting that women reported
being abused in ‘vulgar gender related terms. She also stated that their were
reports of ‘inappropriate touching,; including men ‘trying to kiss them,
grabbing their arms or bottoms or stroking their breasts or bottoms.’
Police officers, as they will agree, must be held to a higher standard than other sections of the public, but surely so too should those who make the laws which police enforce.
Of course, no MP has directly inflicted such savagery upon another human being as did Couzens. However, if we turn to the medical profession we have Dr Harold Shipman, Nurse Beverley Allitt while another nurse is currently on trial for multiple murders. Dozens of new born babies have died in maternity scandals at Shrewsbury, Nottingham, Morecombe and East Kent maternity units. A toxic culture of bullying allegedly exists at the North East Ambulance Service as it appears to at University Hospitals, Birmingham where this culture has been linked to the suicide of a female doctor. At Sandhurst Military Academy, almost 200 women have reportedly sought help after suffering sexual abuse and even the Red Arrows have become embroiled in scandal.
None of the above absolves those in the Met or other police forces whose despicable behaviour is grotesquely beyond the pale but there can be little doubt that the media are ruthlessly pursuing stories that denigrate the police. Poor behaviour should be exposed but, at present its all about denigration rather than balanced coverage which, in an ideal world, would feature examples of good policing.
Green shoots for Met ‘Comms.’
In addition to the anger and contempt directed at Couzens, Carrick and others whose appalling acts have collectively smeared officers, there is also exasperation at the failure of Met ‘comms’ to convey accounts of bravery, kindness and compassion, which are performed by officers during each and every 24- hour period.
Recently the media, including the BBC, made an issue as to the cost of frames and certificates ordered by the Met. These are primarily intended for commendations awarded to officers for bravery and outstanding police work. These citations need to be placed firmly in the public domain and illustrated, where appropriate, using body worn camera footage and /or footage obtained by other means such as CCTV.
The Met could maintain its own You Tube channel. If the gangs referred to above can publicise themselves then surely the Met should be able to do likewise. Most officers agree that previous three-part BBC documentary programmes, ‘The Met: Policing London,’ were major successes, but why only three programmes each year is the question posed by officers I have spoken too.
If the Met are to win back those members of the public who have lost faith, then their achievements need to be in the public domain. Three times in ‘blazing June,’ officers, arriving before firefighters, went into burning premises; two of those incidents were captured on social media footage.
What about those lives saved thanks to officers intervening with those suffering a mental health crisis? What about where officers, as referred to above, who arrive at the scene of a stabbing, shooting or a serious life-threatening road accident and save lives?’ The simple fact is that there is a huge quantity of material available to the Met and they abjectly fail to use it although there are one or two green shoots which suggest this may be changing.
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