The Home Secretary is to order an independent special inquiry into whether the Metropolitan Police allowed hundreds of recruits to join without proper vetting, amid concerns they may pose a criminal risk. The inquiry will be carried out by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, with concerns centred on 300 new officers hired between 2016 and 2023.
The recruits may have had substandard or no vetting before joining the force and gaining police powers. Vetting is designed to weed out applicants with criminal convictions, cautions, or criminal associations, as well as those whose integrity is at risk because of debt. Sources indicate that an initial inquiry by the Met itself, called Operation Jorica, began several months ago and found potential issues with some officers hired during that period.
The development comes as the Met attempts to demonstrate that its officers can be trusted after a series of scandals tarnished the reputation of Britain’s largest police force. Wayne Couzens, who an inquiry found should never have been allowed into the force, abducted and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021. David Carrick used his position as a Met officer to instil fear in his female victims during a campaign of rape and sexual violence, with numerous complaints against him not acted upon.
The potential errors were picked up by the Met itself this year and revealed by the Guardian in September. The force has been urgently revetting recruits whose appointment may have taken place during the seven-year period investigated. Other forces may have made similar errors.
The bulk of the recruitment happened during the police uplift programme, when the Conservative government hired 20,000 officers between 2020 and 2023, putting forces under pressure to recruit large numbers quickly. The Conservatives had cut police staffing by 20,000 officers in the previous decade. The potential errors predate Mark Rowley’s appointment as commissioner in September 2022 and relate to when Dame Cressida Dick and her predecessor, Lord Hogan-Howe, were in charge.
The Met declined to say whether the vetting concerns have led to any officers resigning or being removed from duty via suspension or dismissal. In a statement issued in September, the force confirmed an ongoing review as part of its wider work on standards, vetting and professionalism, covering practices between 2016 and 2023. A report commissioned by the Met from Louise Casey in October 2022 found flawed vetting and practices that allowed people suspected of serious criminal offences, including sexual assault and domestic abuse, to join or stay in the force.
