The Metropolitan Police commissioner has once again rejected the use of the term “institutional” used by the Casey review to describe his force’s problems with racism, misogyny and homophobia.
Appearing before the London Assembly’s police and crime committee, Sir Mark Rowley was pushed by Green Party assembly member (AM) Caroline Russell to explain why he didn’t accept the term.
In response, he said he fully accepted the “diagnosis” of the Casey review. “I get it’s systemic, I get it’s cultural, and we’re going after it,” he said.
But he again refused to accept the word institutional because he said it was “ambiguous” and a political term that might imply most people in the Met were racist. “I just need to be practical,” he said, “but if it’s confusing, I can’t go there”.
Earlier, however, Baroness Louise Casey, who carried out the review, had appeared before the very same committee, in which she stressed she was not suggesting every officer in the Met was racist, sexist or homophobic.
She appeared to dismiss the commissioner’s reasoning, telling the committee that “when people say something’s become politicised, it’s often a get-out-of-jail card for the word difficult”.
“I’ve heard it so many times… and sometimes it is right that we step into what is difficult.”
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In a wide-ranging evidence session that lasted nearly two hours, Sir Mark was grilled about his plans for reforming the Met Police in several areas.
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He said that he and his senior leadership team had been through a “bit of a rollercoaster of emotions” in response to the Casey review, including anger, frustration, and embarrassment.
But he said he welcomed the report, and was already working on a number of its recommendations, including what he described as “the most radical reform possible” of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, to which disgraced officers Wayne Couzens and David Carrick both belonged.
Read more:
Met Police is ‘institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic’
Key findings of Baroness Casey’s damning review into force
Rowley won’t use term ‘institutionally racist’
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Commissioner Rowley said he would “take on” any officers who proved resistant to change, and was optimistic about his ability to reform the Met.
“There are lots of challenges and ways the Met needs to change and improve,” he said, “but the reason we will succeed is the majority of our people really care. They go out there and do extraordinary things. They have the spirit to continue.”
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