PM urges change in police culture after vetting failures laid bare

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “It’s clear that culture and standards need to change, police chiefs must take action to address this and it’s welcome that they recognise that.” Inspectors found that hundreds, if not thousands, of corrupt officers may be serving in England and Wales police forces, and that the chances of someone like Sarah Everard’s murderer Wayne Couzens getting a job as a police officer would have been “clearly reduced” if measures to improve screening checks had been put in place earlier. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.” Although he could not estimate overall how many such officers are still serving, he told reporters: “It seems reasonable for me to say that over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands… it’s not in the tens, it’s at least in the hundreds.” The report said there had been “many warning signs” over the last decade that the system was not working well enough. Inspectors found cases where: – Criminal behaviour, such as indecent exposure, was dismissed as a “one-off”; – Applicants with links to “extensive criminality” in their families were hired by forces; – A chief constable argued hiring an officer transferring from another area would make the force “more diverse” despite a string of allegations spanning several years which could have amounted to sexual assault if proven; – Warnings a prospective officer may present a risk to the public were ignored; – Incidents which should have been classed as gross misconduct were assessed as a lower-level disciplinary matter or “not treated as misconduct at all” – Basic blunders led to the wrong vetting decisions. The Home Office is not trying to absolve itself, but the fact remains that the vetting process, which varies across to some extent, is the responsibility of police chief constables.” The minister that HIMCRS’s report and their recommendations have been “accepted in full”, adding: “I hope they do something about it with extreme speed.” Former leader of civil liberties group Liberty, Baroness Chakrabarti, called on the Government to intervene and set out a “legislative framework” for vetting, rather than leaving it up to individual police chiefs to make improvements.