London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Give me more power to sack officers - Met chief

Give me more power to sack officers - Met chief

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said it is "nonsensical" he does not have the power to sack staff.

He warned the force has "hundreds of people who shouldn't be here", as cases of officers previously accused of violence against women are re-examined.

Sir Mark said dozens of officers have been redeployed from tackling serious crime and terrorism to investigate wrongdoing in the force.

A BBC London poll found deep distrust in the Met following a damning report.

Baroness Casey uncovered widespread racism, homophobia and misogyny in the force, and warned it may need to be broken up if it can not be urgently reformed.

During a phone-in on BBC Radio London on Friday in which he answered listeners' concerns about the force, Sir Mark criticised the Met's disciplinary process and called for an overhaul.

"In all cases, I don't have the final say on who's in the Metropolitan Police. I know that sounds mad, I'm the commissioner," he said.

He pointed out that independent legal tribunals can decide the Met has to retain officers even though the force wants to sack them.

In a letter to the Mayor of London and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Sir Mark said officers had been diverted to the force's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS).

"Over the last three months we have had, on average, 90 additional officers and staff from these areas supporting DPS," he wrote, adding that many had volunteered.

Sir Mark said four in five of the original inquiries into officers accused of domestic and sexual violence in the last decade had not resulted in the correct action and should be reassessed.


The Met began rechecking staff accused of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the 10 years to April 2022 following the conviction of David Carrick, a Met officer who carried out a series of rapes during his career.

Of 1,131 individuals reinvestigated:

*  246 will face no formal action because correct action was taken at the time

*  689 will undergo a new assessment to pursue new or missed lines of inquiry, including possibly talking again to victims and witnesses

*  196 face formal risk management measures and potentially a review to determine if they should remain in the force

All of these cases will be reassessed by an independent panel of experts.

Sir Mark told the BBC that vetting rules in recruiting staff have been tightened, and in the next six months about 100 officers will have their status reviewed and "may well end up leaving the organisation".

"We have hundreds of people who shouldn't be here and the tens of thousands of good men and women here are as embarrassed and angered by that as anybody, and they're helping us sort them out," he added.

During the BBC phone-in, Sir Mark admitted the number of neighbourhood police officers had fallen by 1,600, telling a caller that he intended to "stabilise" that figure to improve safety in the capital.

He told another caller that the Met needs to be more "proactive" on investigating rape after reports almost quadrupled in a decade, describing it as a "massive issue" for the force.

Other measures designed to clean up the Met include checking the records of all of the Met's 50,000 employees against the Police National Database, an exercise which is being carried out by forces nationally.

The 10,000 checked so far reveal 38 potential cases of misconduct and 55 cases of off-duty association with a criminal.

Sir Mark has previously said he was considering banning anyone with convictions, other than the most minor, from the force.

He has also said he has the backing of the prime minister and home secretary over greater powers to sack officers, and hopes a review of the rules can be concluded swiftly.

Sir Mark told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the current policy on accepting staff was "too permissive" and left "too much ground for interpretation".

He added "complex" police regulations mean some officers under investigation have already been sacked by the Met, but were then reinstated by an independent lawyer.

A poll commissioned by BBC London found public confidence in the Met Police has been shattered after high profile cases like the murder of Sarah Everard.

Out of more than 1,000 people surveyed, almost half of female respondents surveyed said they "totally distrusted" the Met following numerous controversies involving some of its officers.

Sir Mark's letter to the mayor of London and home secretary also reveals 161 Met officers have criminal convictions. Of these:

*  76 are for serious traffic offences such as drink-driving

*  49 are for dishonesty or violence.

*  eight committed the offences as police officers and are still with the force

*  three have convictions for sexual offences

The Chairman of London's Police and Crime Committee Susan Hall told the BBC that Sir Mark's findings showed that "things are going to get much worse before they get better".

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: "One of the problems with the police is it's easy to join but it's difficult to get rid of bad police officers, and that's why it's incredibly important if we're going to change the culture….we've got to do this hard work."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×