Vetting of Police

The request was partially successful.

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

In the wake of Sarah Everard murder by the police, the vetting policy of the police comes under scrutiny.
Please could you detail the vetting policy of the Metropolitan Police for
new recruits
current police including senior ranks and officers
police staff.

What organisation/s carries out the vetting?
What procedures does the vetting consist of?
How long does vetting last before it is renewed?
What training do the vetters receive in vetting?

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

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1 Attachment

Dear Madam,

Please see the attached in respect of your recent information request.
Thank you.

Kind regards,
Data Office Triage Team | Information Rights Unit
Strategy & Insight | Strategy & Governance | METHQ | Metropolitan Police Service
Email: [email address]
Address: Information Rights Unit, PO Box 313, SIDCUP DA15 0HH

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Not Suitable for Publication:
Recipients of this email should be aware that all communications within and to and from the Metropolitan Police Service are subject to consideration for release under the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations. The MPS will consider all information suitable for release unless there are valid and proportionate public interest reasons not to, therefore, sensitive information not for public disclosure must be highlighted as such.

show quoted sections

Cyclops on behalf of Mike Lyng, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

2 Attachments

 

      Official

 

Information Rights Unit
PO Box 313
Sidcup
DA15 0HH

 

Email: [1][the Met request email]

 

[2]www.met.police.uk

 

Your ref:
Our ref: 01/FOI/21/021351

 

13/11/2021

 

 

 
 

 

Dear Ms Jones

 

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 01/FOI/21/021351

 

Please see the attached in respect of your Freedom of Information request
referenced above.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Mike Lyng

 

 

      Official

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[the Met request email]
2. http://www.met.police.uk/

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Vetting information from page 48 (pdf):

An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service

Published on: 2 November 2022

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2022

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (9/6/23)

'Dismissing corrupt and incompetent officers

...

The police do have some tools to dismiss those people who are unsuitable to be police officers, but they don’t always use these tools effectively. The quality of misconduct investigations needs to improve. In our inspection of vetting, misconduct and misogyny in the police service, we found shortcomings in almost 20 percent of the investigations we reviewed.' p36

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/...

Angiolini Inquiry part 2: terms of reference

Published 11 May 2023

'1. The extent to which systems, policies and processes for the recruitment, vetting and transfer of police officers are fit for purpose and help to identify those who display misogynistic and/or predatory attitudes and behaviours, including...'

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

IOPC 23/5/23:

"We have also been working closely with the Angiolini Inquiry, sharing evidence to inform its work looking at cultural issues within policing and addressing the broader concerns around women’s safety in public highlighted by Sarah Everard’s death."

https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/io...

HMICFRS:

Vetting, misconduct and misogyny in the police service: review of progress – letter

Published on: 11 May 2023

'But some responses weren’t detailed enough, and a few forces appeared to have either downplayed or overstated their progress in some areas. In some of these cases, we made enquiries to verify or refute the information in their self‑assessments. This has helped us to establish a more accurate and informed picture of progress.'

https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/...

London Evening Standard 11/5/23:

'HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services said it had uncovered new “you cannot be serious, you are really letting that person in?” cases of unsuitable people being recruited during a inspection of forces including the Met.'

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/metro...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/m...

BARONESS CASEY REVIEW

Final Report - March 2023

(Relates to the Met but some people might find it useful)

'3.3 Vetting

Very serious concerns have been raised about the vetting procedures being applied to Met recruits as well as the process for re-vetting serving officers.'

https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/...

Police complaints Statistics for England and Wales 2021/22 (Experimental statistics)

https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/police-...

Update on actions to improve police standards and culture
Statement made on 1 March 2023 - UIN HLWS579

'As of this date, all force HR records have been prepared for the datawash which will conclude by the end of March, cross-checking over 326,000 officers and staff against relevant PND records. Forces will then interrogate this data and take action to investigate where necessary.
...
As well as driving up standards in police vetting and dealing with misconduct, the Home Secretary has been clear that policing needs to address the root causes of poor, and in some cases toxic, cultures.' Chris Philp

https://questions-statements.parliament....

Daily Mail 2/3/23

'Every police officer will be re-vetted if there is a change in their circumstances...'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

IOPC:

Statement in response to HMICFRS report into vetting, misconduct and misogyny in policing

https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/st...

Officer David Carrick - 'one of the worst sexual offenders in modern criminal history'. The Guardian

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

The Guardian - 25/2/23:

Revealed: one in 100 police officers in England and Wales faced a criminal charge last year

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023...

The Guardian:

Dozens of UK police officers disciplined over sexual contact with crime victims and witnesses

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023...

College of Policing:

APP on Vetting 2021
(Authorised Professional Practice)

'7.22.25 Forces should check content on publically available social media sites for the purposes of service reputational reassurance, and to ensure that the applicant’s online behaviour is compatible with the Code of Ethics or Standards of Professional Behaviour.
...
7.23.4 There is no legal requirement for biometric vetting to be conducted on police staff. However, police staff posts that are intrinsically frontline-fac ing and/or involve considerable time spent with the public should be subjected to biometric vetting.

Forces should conduct an audit of police staff posts and identify those for which biometric vetting is proportionate and justifiable.'

https://library.college.police.uk/docs/c...

Police Me Too (TRIGGER WARNING)

https://police-me-too.co.uk/

Police misconduct, England and Wales year ending 31 March 2022
Published 12 January 2023

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics...

Related:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/v...

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Government Response to the report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

June 2023

'It is encouraging that the Metropolitan Police has addressed its backlog of vetting existing officers in accordance with the current vetting standards. HMICFRS still found, however, that the force had difficulty with ensuring that those in sensitive posts were vetted to the right level. This issue was highlighted further by the vetting inspection report from HMICFRS, which suggested recommendations for chief officers to take forward. I have asked Lady Elish Angiolini, in the second part of her inquiry into the issues raised by the conviction of Sarah Everard’s murderer, to consider further matters related to vetting. I await the findings of those investigations with interest.' (p3)

Suella Braverman

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Some people interested in Met vetting might also be interested in the sort of wrongdoing that gets officers put on the Barred List.

Details of over 100 Met officers' wrongdoing can be found here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Police Integrity

Statement made on 18 September 2023 by Suella Braverman

Statement UIN HCWS1035

'The Government is committed to delivering these important reforms, the majority of which require changes to secondary legislation, and will work with stakeholders to deliver these as soon as practicable.

The review report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on Gov.UK.'

https://questions-statements.parliament....

London Evening Standard - 31/8/23

'Police officers will face automatic dismissal if found guilty of gross misconduct under plans to overhaul the disciplinary process.
...
Independent lawyers will continue to sit on the panel to advise and maintain “rigour”, but now in a supporting role.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Corrupt police officers and those who behave poorly or fail vetting must be kicked out of our forces. For too long our police chiefs have not had the powers they need to root out those who have no place wearing the uniform.

Now they can take swift and robust action to sack officers who should not be serving our communities.'

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/po...

Letter to chief constables on the police dismissals review
Published 1 September 2023

(from Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire Chris Philp)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

R (Victor) v Chief Constable of West Mercia Police [2023] EWHC 2119 (Admin)

This judicial review concerns a student probationer police constable who was sacked after her vetting clearance was removed.

Her Claim was dismissed.

The Judgment includes a lot of useful information.

https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...

Daily Mail 25/8/23:

'EXCLUSIVE - Revealed: More than half of all police officers reported for abusing their position for sex in the past five years are STILL serving'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Met Police News 19/9/23:

'- 100 police officers have been dismissed for gross misconduct in the last 12 months, an increase of 66 per cent on the historic rate of dismissals.

- A total of 183 officers are currently suspended, up from 69 in September 2022 - a 165 per cent increase.

- There has been a 102 per cent increase in the number of officers awaiting a gross misconduct hearing, compared with this time last year (136 to 275).

We are supported by the public and our officers reporting alleged misconduct, with reports nearly doubling from 876 to 1,668 over the last 12 months. The number of reports by officers and staff has increased by a third.'

https://news.met.police.uk/news/the-met-...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Evening Standard 7/10/23:

'There are 335 Metropolitan Police officers who are waiting to face gross misconduct hearings, the force has said.'

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/m...

Police complaints Statistics for England and Wales 2022/23 (Experimental statistics)

Table 6: Number of allegations logged - what has been complained about in 2022/23

Met Police - sexual conduct - 50

https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/publica...

It was 41 in 2021/22.

https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/publica...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Hansard

Volume 834: debated on Monday 27 November 2023

Lord Sharpe of Epson

'My Lords, my noble friend is right to point out that we launched a review. That review was concluded and the results were published in September. Noble Lords will be aware of the contents of the review. As regards introducing the powers that Sir Mark clearly needs and has asked for, some of that will require primary legislation; it will form part of the Criminal Justice Bill, which is due to reach Committee stage in the Commons and be debated in January. Some of it will require secondary legislation. We expect that the first tranche of changes will see amendments to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020, which should be implemented around April; the second tranche, which covers wider misconduct, vetting and performance measures, is expected to be introduced around June.'

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2023...