London police’s ‘broken’ vetting laid bare by review night
BBC, 23 Mar 2023
In a 363-page report, Baroness Louise Casey has condemned London's Metropolitan Police as institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, referencing racist officers and staff, routine sexism and "deep-seated" homophobia.
Her year-long review found systemic failures, and painted a picture of a force where rape cases were dropped because a freezer containing key evidence broke.
It's a damning indictment of almost every aspect of policing in London, and Baroness Casey has a key to transforming it - with better recruitment, a healthy culture and a different approach to specialisms.
Among the 16 recommendations in her review was the call for an immediate overhaul of vetting. She called a lack of mandatory requirements for vetting and training underpinned by law a "disgrace”.
Newsnight’s Sima Kotecha takes a closer look at those findings.