Police forces ‘free of traditional corruption’ – chief
THE new chief constable of Greater Manchester Police has declared the country’s forces to be free of corruption – at least when it comes to the ‘traditional’ definition of the word.
Chief Const Stephen Watson, who stepped into the role in March, was responding on BBC Radio 4 to questions around the murder of Daniel Morgan, who was found dead with an axe embedded in his head in a Sydenham pub car park in March 1987.
A report by an independent panel, released last Tuesday, accused the Met of ‘a form of institutional corruption’ for concealing or denying failings over Britain’s most-investigated unsolved murder.
Met boss Cressida Dick has robustly defended the organisation – and on Saturday Mr Watson, in his role as chair of the National Counter Corruption Advisory Group, said that no force in England was guilty of corruption in terms of ‘aiding or abetting criminality.’
He accepted the report into the Met’s handling of the investigation had found ‘clear severe failings’ and acknowledged it to be a ‘dreadful case.’
But he said the definition of ‘corruption’ in the report was ‘a different definition of corruption than has hitherto been marshalled,’ adding: “I think in terms of looking at this report... when it talks about institutionalised corruption perhaps isn’t talking about corruption in the way many people would understand it to be.”
He said many people assume that corruption means ‘aiding and abetting criminality, but added: “This is about a lack of candour, a perceived failure of the police to fully co-operate with the inquiry.
“It seems to me that as the national lead I have have seen no evidence to suggest corruption is endemic in any UK police force.”
Mr Watson’s own appointment has followed a challenging time for GMP, which was placed in ‘special measures’ by the
Home Office after a damning government watchdog report found the force had failed to properly record 80,000 crimes. It also raised serious questions about how the force handled domestic violence and child protection, as well as delayed, dropped and badly planned investigations.
The force’s £27m IT system known as iOPS – switched on in July 2019 some 19 months behind schedule – has also been plagued with difficulties.
Mr Watson told the BBC he was ‘loath’ to get into the ‘ins and outs’ of what the Met did and didn’t do, but when pushed further on whether a police officer obstructing an investigation to protect the force was wrongdoing or corruption, he added: “People can argue whether dishonesty per se is corruption or simply misconduct.”
He said the definition of corruption was ‘slightly different’ to that ‘ever put before,’ and said the MET was giving ‘very active’ consideration to the contents of the report, which he said ‘turns predominantly on the lack of candour.’
He added: “The Met have already indicated in certain responses they are giving consideration to the balance between safeguarding information and being transparent and co-operating, of course in a way that serves the public interest.”
He added: “All I’m saying is that it’s important that people understand what the definition is that is being applied to make the point that against at least the more traditional understanding of what corruption looks like, there is no evidence of that being endemic in any UK police force.
“I just really wanted to make the broader point about corruption which is to say that we do not take some sort of artificially narrow definition, we are absolutely front and centre of anti-corruption in all its guises and we, I think, have amongst the strongest arrangements literally anywhere globally, and as a result we find ourselves in a completely different place to the world of 34 years ago.”