Interim Met boss: Police have more than ‘just a few bad apples’
The interim commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has admitted there are more than “just a few bad apples” in the police force, after a series of scandals.
Sir Stephen House told MPs on the Home Affairs Committee today that “it’s not a few bad apples – you can’t simply say [convicted murderer] Wayne Couzens and a few other people have done something wrong”.
“That’s been the spearhead of the problem, I would suggest, but there are wider issues within the organisation which we acknowledge and which we are dealing with,” he said.
Former Met officer Wayne Couzens was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard last year, while two further officers were jailed in December for taking selfies with dead bodies.
A recent dossier also saw police officers from the Charing Cross police station making multiple racist, sexist and homophobic comments over WhatsApp and social media.
House is interim Met commissioner, after Dame Cresida Dick was forced out of the role by London mayor Sadiq Khan for her response to the Charing Cross officers.
She also oversaw a series of other scandals, including her officers manhandling women attending a vigil for Everard during lockdown.
House said: “I want to be very clear – I’ve heard over recent months and weeks: ‘Does the Met get it? Does it get the issues? Does it get the issues around the loss of confidence in the public?’
“I am quite clear – the Met does get it. The right thinking people in the organisation are angry with the people who have let them down badly.
“There is a significant campaign within the organisation to deal with this completely unacceptable behaviour, to root it out and exit those people who are exhibiting that behaviour from the organisation as fast as possible and in the right way.”