An exclusive investigation has revealed that the Metropolitan Police still has two registered sex offenders within its ranks, while more than 300 serving officers possess criminal records. This alarming disclosure comes despite Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley's high-profile promise to root out corrupt and criminal 'bad apples' from the force.
Systemic Vetting Failures Exposed
The scale of the problem was laid bare this week when the Met admitted that 131 officers had committed crimes and misconduct after being allowed to join due to vetting and employment check blunders. A deeper look into recruitment practices between 2018 and 2022 shows a shocking pattern of negligence.
During that four-year period, 17,355 officers and staff joined without the force obtaining their full employment references. Furthermore, more than 5,000 officers were not properly vetted before being sworn in.
Rising Numbers of Officers with Convictions
Separate figures, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, show the current extent of the issue. At the end of last year, 322 Metropolitan Police officers had criminal records. This marks a rise of a third since November 2024, when the number stood at 243.
The criminal records span a wide range of offences, including:
- 54 officers with a record of violence.
- 25 for drugs-related offences.
- 80 convicted of theft or fraud.
- 50 officers guilty of drink driving.
Most concerningly, the data confirms that two of these officers committed 'non-contact' sexual offences in the mid-2000s. These crimes include voyeurism, exposure, up-skirting, drink spiking and stalking. One was convicted before joining, while the other was already a serving officer when found guilty. The Met has acknowledged that neither would be offered a job or gain vetting clearance today.
High-Profile Cases and National Recruitment Crisis
These systemic failures have had devastating real-world consequences. Among those who slipped through the net were some of the UK's most notorious criminals, including serial rapist David Carrick, now serving 37 life sentences, and PC Cliff Mitchell, a rapist who was recruited despite already being accused of child rape at the time of his application.
The Met is not alone in taking recruitment shortcuts. Forces including Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire, Merseyside, Thames Valley and Cumbria have all admitted they did not carry out full reference checks on new recruits. This followed a previous government's £3 billion drive to recruit 20,000 new officers, which appears to have prioritised numbers over rigorous standards.
The ranks of officers with a criminal past are widespread. They include 268 constables, 43 sergeants, seven inspectors, two chief inspectors, and two officers at the rank of superintendent or above. On Thursday, the Met stated that an estimated 1,200 officers and staff should never have joined due to these historic check failures and would not pass today's more stringent checks.
A Met spokesman said: 'The [force] has launched an unprecedented drive to improve standards and build trust… with officers and staff who failed to meet our standards being removed from the organisation over the past three years.' To date, this drive has seen 1,500 officers dismissed.
