Twelve months after Sir Mark Rowley embarked on a mission to re-boot the Metropolitan Police following a wave of scandals, the force has revealed that it has suspended or placed work restrictions on a thousand of its officers.
More than 200 are currently suspended and 860 are on ‘restricted duties’ while criminal or misconduct allegations are investigated – taken together that’s as many as people as work in a small constabulary. In addition, there has been a 66 per cent increase in dismissals for gross misconduct – with 100 in the last year, and 300 more hearings in the pipeline. Scotland Yard says that before long, 60 cases of alleged misconduct or incompetence will be heard each month with a number of Crown Court trials due to take place as well, including those of two Met officers charged with rape.
The groundwork for this mass investigation of Met staff began shortly after the Commissioner took office last September, when he suggested that there were ‘hundreds’ of officers who shouldn’t be there.
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