Met rape failings were reported to Khan
Mayor briefed on inquiry into force’s shortcomings before declaring his lack of faith in commissioner Dick
SADIQ KHAN had been briefed on a damning report into the Metropolitan Police’s handling of rape and sexual assault cases before he declared he had lost confidence in Dame Cressida Dick, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
The Mayor of London had been given the findings of a project called Operation Soteria, funded by the Home Office, which found that Met officers failed to adequately monitor known offenders and lacked specialist training needed to investigate sex crimes. The findings also suggested that officers neglected to carry out routine checks on men accused of sexual offences to see if they had a criminal history, and raised concerns about the number of officers who believed that many rape allegations were false.
The Mayor of London is understood to have been preparing to raise the findings with the Met Commissioner at a planned meeting last Thursday, having received a summary earlier this month.
However, Dame Cressida resigned before the meeting after Mr Khan’s staff made clear that the Mayor had lost confidence in her.
The disclosures come as a poll shows that most Londoners believe Dame Cressida was right to step down, with fewer than one in 10 respondents believing she tackled sexism in the force.
Operation Soteria, a joint operation between the police and Crown Prosecution Service, is intended to push officers to focus rape investigations on suspects rather than complainants’ credibility.
It is believed to have raised concerns about officers placing too much of an emphasis on investigating victims.
The findings of the project’s work in the Met were passed to Mr Khan on Feb 1.
A source familiar with the results of the project within the Met said it revealed how “officers were not routinely monitoring known offenders of sexual crimes”.
The insider said that key findings also included “a serious lack of specialist training of officers”, leading to a “total lack of morale” and “complete and utter burnout”.
Operation Soteria’s findings on the Metropolitan Police are understood to be similar to the conclusions drawn from a pilot inquiry into the handling of sex crimes within Avon and Somerset Police, which were shared with the Commons home affairs committee in June last year.
Unlike the work relating to Avon and Somerset, the results of the Metropolitan Police inquiry are yet to be made public. Sources said the findings had been shared with the force, although the Met said it was awaiting a final report.
An individual who has been briefed on the matter said the Met should “enter into the findings openly and transparently in order to prove change”.
“Unless they are much more public about what was found, it doesn’t suggest complete endorsement of the changes that will be required,” they added.
A Met spokesman said: “We are committed to tackling violence in all its forms, including crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls. As part of this commitment, we put ourselves forward as one of five forces to take part in a national programme aimed at transforming the way that police respond to, and investigate, rape and serious sexual offences in England and Wales.
“We await the outcome of the report and will respond to its findings in due course.
“We have already made significant steps to ensure we are providing the best possible service to victims of rape and sexual offences.”
Last week, Dame Cressida said that “tackling violence in all its forms has been my number-one priority”.
A survey of 2,061 adults by Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now found that by a two-to-one majority the public believed Dame Cressida did not do a good job leading Britain’s biggest police force.