It may have taken a BBC Panorama documentary to bring a litany of allegations of racist, discriminatory and misogynistic behaviour at Charing Cross police station to the attention of the Metropolitan Police commissioner, but officers in the force have said the revelations are no surprise.
A seven-month under-cover investigation has exposed serving Met officers calling for immigrants to be shot, boasting about the use of excessive force and responding in a dismissive manner to claims of rape and domestic violence.
Charing Cross station had already been the subject of a report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) where police officers were found to have joked about rape and exchanged offensive social media messages.
Sir Mark Rowley said in a statement following the latest investigation: “The behaviour depicted in this programme is reprehensible and completely unacceptable.”
He added: “Having cleared out huge volumes of unsuitable staff over recent years, we are now probing deeper into the corrupt networks and cliques our actions have driven underground.”
