The Met Police hired more than 1,000 officers without obtaining references before they started work, reports say. The force did not properly check references for up to 18 months from 2020 and while some checks were made once a recruit had joined the Met, sources have said many were never chased up and “swept under the carpet”.
Many recruits are believed to have been employed following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens in 2021, The Sunday Times reports. Last year it was revealed that a series of failures in recruitment and vetting processes meant Couzens was able to remain a police officer despite spiralling personal debt and an accusation of a sex offence.
The revelation could be another setback for Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who has pledged to get rid of rogue officers in the wake of outrage over Couzens as well as serial rapist David Carrick, who was also a serving Met officer. The decision to waive reference checks reportedly goes against the official guidance from the College of Policing.
The Met’s human resources chief Clare Davies decided to set aside the references or to seek them retrospectively in 2020, according to the Sunday Times. The newspaper reports that the policy was in place for up to 18 months and came at a time when Boris Johnson’s government wanted forces to recruit an extra 20,000 officers in three years.
The Met was told to hire more than 4,500 recruits but only managed to hire 3,468. Recruits would have been vetted to see if there were any previous convictions or family links to crime before being hired. Guidelines also ask police forces to obtain character references going back three years.
The loophole recently came to light as the Met’s historic hiring practices are being examined. Any failings are expected to be passed on to a public inquiry led by Dame Elish Angiolini, which was set up by the Home Office following the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by Couzens.
The Angiolini Inquiry previously set out how red flags were missed as Couzens served with three different police forces across several years. At the time Dame Elish said she was “astonished” to learn that Couzens would have passed vetting for the Metropolitan Police even if the force had known about a previous accusation of indecent exposure.
It followed a review by Baroness Casey in 2023 which described the Met as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. Earlier this month a High Court judgment effectively removed a mechanism to sack officers who were not fit to hold vetting. Sergeant Lino Di Maria successfully mounted a legal challenge, supported by the Metropolitan Police Federation, after having his vetting removed over sexual assault allegations, which he denies.
Sir Mark described the ruling as leaving policing in “a hopeless position”. Without a legal mechanism to sack them, Sir Mark said millions of pounds were being wasted paying officers he could not get rid of. “It’s a ridiculous waste of taxpayers’ money paying someone (to) sit at home, but they won’t be policing the streets, they won’t be attending your calls,” he said.
The Met began reviewing allegations against officers and staff in the wake of public outrage over Couzens and Carrick. The first, Operation Assure, looked at the vetting of officers and staff where concerns had been raised about their behaviour. The second, Operation Onyx, looked at every completed sexual offence or domestic abuse case involving a police officer or staff member between April 2012 and April 2022, where the allegation did not lead to them being sacked.
There are currently 29 officers who have had their vetting removed and remain on paid leave and 96 who have been sacked or resigned. It is thought that keeping officers and staff on paid special vetting leave will cost at least £2 million per year. Responding to failings over reference checks, the Met told the Sunday Times: “Londoners rightly expect the highest standards from our officers and staff, and we’ve overhauled our vetting and professional standards processes as part of our ‘New Met for London’ plan.
“We are continuing to strengthen our approach, taking account of learning from inquiries by Baroness Casey and Dame Elish Angiolini. “We have recruited extra vetting officers, introduced a new force policy and decision-making framework, and invested in new technology to make sure only those with the highest standards serve in the Met.”.
