The Metropolitan Police employed more than 1,000 officers without verifying their references before they started, according to internal sources. The practice began in early 2020, when Clare Davies, the force's human resources chief, decided to waive or delay reference checks, despite official College of Policing guidelines requiring them. Davies was later promoted by Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and now earns over £235,000 a year.
The recruits were hired after the 2021 murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a Met officer, and amid a government drive to recruit 20,000 additional officers nationwide. The Met, under pressure to hire 4,500 new recruits, managed only 3,468. Although candidates underwent vetting for criminal records, character references from previous employers or educational institutions were often not obtained or chased up.
A police source said: 'Once they were in, that was it; the reference checks were swept under the carpet.' The revelation comes despite Sir Mark Rowley's promise to root out corrupt officers following the Couzens scandal. A 2023 review by Baroness Casey described the Met as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
The Met has faced further scandals involving officers such as Cliff Mitchell, convicted of multiple rapes including against a child, and David Carrick, who was jailed for 48 rapes. Sir Mark recently criticised a High Court ruling that prevented the sacking of a sergeant who failed vetting, calling it 'absurd' that the force cannot lawfully dismiss such officers.
