A shocking internal review has exposed catastrophic vetting failures within the Metropolitan Police, allowing criminals including serial rapists to join the force. The report, ordered by Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, reveals that over 5,000 officers and staff were improperly checked, with at least 131 going on to commit serious crimes and misconduct.
The Scale of the Failure
The scandal centres on the period of the national Police Uplift Programme, a £3 billion drive to recruit 20,000 new officers across England and Wales between July 2019 and March 2023. In a rush to meet targets and secure extra funding, the Met and at least five other forces secretly abandoned crucial employment checks. 17,355 officers and staff joined the Met alone without full employment references between 2018 and April 2022.
The force knowingly "deviated" from national regulations, failing to conduct proper security checks on military transferees and intelligence checks on officers from other forces. The report states a fear of "adverse financial consequences" led to a dangerous realignment of "risk tolerances."
Criminals in Uniform
The human cost of these systemic failures is horrifying. Among those who slipped through the net were two of the UK's most depraved sex offenders. David Carrick, now serving 37 life sentences for attacks on 14 women, was hired in 2017 after cursory checks missed a prior allegation of domestic abuse.
Cliff Mitchell, who called himself 'the devil', was welcomed into the Met in 2020 despite having been previously investigated for six counts of rape against a child. A vetting panel, aimed at boosting diversity, overturned a decision to reject his application. In 2023, he kidnapped and raped a woman at knifepoint.
The report found that this panel, tackling disproportionality, overturned rejections for 114 individuals, resulting in 25 officers being recruited who were later accused of criminality or misconduct.
Reaction and Reckoning
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood condemned the abandonment of checks as a "dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe." She has ordered the Chief Inspector of Constabulary to carry out an immediate inspection of vetting procedures to restore public trust.
The Met acknowledges that an estimated 1,200 current officers and staff should never have joined and would fail today's stricter standards. Since Sir Mark Rowley took command in September 2022, the force has dismissed 1,500 officers in a drive to root out unsuitable individuals.
Paula Dodds, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, summarised the crisis, stating the report "illustrates a farcical situation in which hitting a numerical target of recruits has taken precedence over normal checks and balances." The revelations raise profound questions about the integrity of police recruitment not just in London, but across the United Kingdom.
