THE PARADOX The more Met’s top brass fixate on wokeness, the more bigoted its officers become

WhAt has happened to the metropolitan Police? in place of the gallantry and self-sacrifice that symbolised its founding almost two centuries ago, a repugnant culture of macho thuggery has taken over.

At its worst, this has been epitomised by the monstrous figures of Wayne Couzens, the killer of Sarah everard, and the vicious misogynist David Carrick, recently jailed for life for his reign of terror against women.

Yet neither Couzens nor Carrick are isolated cases. on the contrary, a report – published today by Baroness Louise Casey – reveals how the met’s profound failings are part of a grotesque pattern of swaggering, selfish cruelty: men in uniform whose contempt for the law is matched only by their disdain for women, gay people and minorities.

it is now 24 years since Sir William macpherson’s landmark report into the death of Stephen Lawrence.

For all the earnest talk about the need to end ‘institutional racism’ – a phrase Sir William made part of our language and which reappears in Baroness

‘Public confidence in the Met was evaporating’

Casey’s report – discrimination and abuse of power in the met seem as bad as ever.

the report is nothing short of devastating. its verdict is made all the more coruscating by Casey’s lucid prose and her track record of public service.

her review was set up in the wake of Couzens’s conviction and its 300 pages serve as a savage indictment of the met’s weak leadership, mismanagement, warped priorities and illconceived policies, which have left the public vulnerable and allowed the bullies to flourish.

it is a deeply depressing document but, for me, not a surprising one. As the former Commissioner of thames Valley Police – the largest force in the country outside London, Birmingham and manchester – i was only too aware of the appalling problems at the met.

During my time in post for almost a decade from 2012, i could sense that in the sprawling mass of the capital, public confidence in the police was evaporating as violent crime worsened, corruption became rife and woke ideology triumphed, distorting everything from recruitment of officers to the fight against islamist terrorism.

Believe me: we had our own difficulties in the thames Valley, especially the activities of Asian grooming gangs. But they paled beside the rot that had clearly infested the met.

As Baroness Casey’s report demonstrates, the met’s performance has been dismal on almost every front. Despite the leadership’s obsession with ‘diversity’, racism, misogyny and homophobia are rampant, shattering public trust among the many vulnerable who most need an effective police force.

As Baroness Casey writes, ‘black Londoners are under-protected’. Women are subjected to ‘ shocking treatment and attitudes’. Such beliefs flourish in the sickening settings such as at Charing Cross station where on WhatsApp groups supposed banter could consist of remarks such as: ‘Knock a bird about and she will love you: human nature.’

one officer even sent a female colleague a message that read, ‘i would happily rape you’. Yet in the face of this kind of vile abuse, discipline is hopelessly inadequate.

only last week it was reported that more than 1,500 officers have been accused of violent offences against women and girls, yet less than 1 per cent of them have been sacked.

Why has the force so badly lost its way? Part of the answer, i believe, is that too many of those in senior positions are the products of progressive education peddled by woke university courses. they are more concerned with social engineering than with fighting crime.

Politically correct dogma not only weakens their own authority but also distorts vital policies on recruitment and promotion. the met should, of course, be trying to attract more women and ethnic minorities so its workforce more closely mirrors the make-up of the capital.

But that does not mean that hiring new applicants should descend into a box-ticking exercise in identity politics – as it manifestly has.

in the vacuum created by weak leadership, an inevitable and ugly backlash against the woke agenda has also been allowed to flourish.

that helps to explain a bizarre paradox: the more the met’s top brass fixates on wokeness, the more bigoted much of its workforce becomes.

Perhaps the met is simply too big. Unwieldy, full of bureaucratic empires that have little to do with crime-fighting and lacking in real accountability, its bloated size is a recipe for waste, corruption and mismanagement.

As someone who worked for years in business and also served in the army – where hierarchies reinforce discipline rather than dissipate it – i have come to the conclusion that the met should now be broken up into a network of smaller forces, backed up by several central units.

Baroness Casey advocates a radical restructuring if the met fails to reform, but i fear that any capacity for real change is wishful thinking. in its present ramshackle state, the force is beyond repair.

A bolder, more urgent plan is needed. i would propose that the met be divided into eight constabularies across London that would concentrate on the basics of neighbourhood policing. meanwhile, there would be a capital-wide headquarters plus three separate units to deal with fraud, organised crime and terrorism.

this change would be buttressed by two other essential measures: a substantial increase in resources to provide more officers for the frontline; and the wholesale dismissal of a large number of employees whose behaviour does not come up to ethical standard.

A flood of sackings would transform the climate and send out the message that misconduct will not be tolerated.

in 1972, Sir robert mark became head of the met on a mission to root out widespread corruption.

‘A good police force is one that catches more crooks than it employs,’ he memorably said when he was appointed.

Sir robert triumphantly achieved his mission, not least by getting rid of more than 500 corrupt officers, including the heads of the Flying Squad and the obscene Publications Squad. We need some of that spirit today – otherwise the met will only sink deeper into the mire.

‘Its bloated size is a recipe for waste and corruption’