Met Police failing in almost all work areas, inspectorate says

The Metropolitan Police is failing in almost all its areas of work, the police inspectorate has said.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) assessed the force’s performance across nine areas.

In its report, it graded the force as “requires improvement” or “inadequate” in seven of the nine – including investigating and preventing crime.

The Met said it was “reflecting” on the report but was “using every available resource to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards”.

HMICFRS inspected the force for the 2023-25 period.

Its Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (Peel) report said the Met’s performance in investigating crime and managing offenders was “inadequate”, and the force “requires improvement” in areas including preventing crime, protecting vulnerable people, developing a positive workplace and leadership.

It comes after the force was told to make “urgent improvements” following a previous inspection in 2022.

HM Inspector of Constabulary, Lee Freeman, said the Met was going through a “significant” transformation, and “many changes have already been made”, but “these haven’t yet translated into consistent and sustained improvements in certain key areas”.

“Consequently, I have serious concerns about how the force is currently investigating crime and managing offenders and suspects,” he said.

“I also have concerns about how the force is preventing and reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service.”

Mr Freeman highlighted:

• The Met was “inconsistent” in managing sex offenders, with a backlog of visits and risk assessment in some teams
• The force “hasn’t met its goal of reducing the number of outstanding suspects”
• There were “significant issues in the standards of investigation, victim care and investigation management” in the Met’s victim service, and “some offences involving vulnerable people aren’t being investigated by suitably trained investigators”
• The Met “has more work to do to make sure it consistently assesses the level of risk” for all 999 and 101 calls when considering a response

The Met has been in an enhanced monitoring process known as Engage since the previous inspection – used when a force is “not succeeding in managing, mitigating or eradicating” a cause of concern.

The inspectorate said the force would remain in this process.

Other findings in the report included issues arising due to a lack of training for investigating officers including in managing sex offence suspects and offenders, and inexperienced officers “trying to manage large workloads beyond their training and knowledge”.

The force’s “culture makes some officers and staff reluctant to speak out about poor behaviour”, the report added.

Concerns were also raised over the Met’s proposals to scale back its plans for reform due to a funding gap of £92m for the 2024-25 year.

“It presents a significant risk to the capability and capacity of the force to implement the improvements that are required,” the inspectorate said.

However, the report praised the force’s use of stop and search, saying it was “both fair and effective” and that “the overwhelming majority of recorded grounds for stop and search were reasonable”.

A Met spokesperson said the force was using “every available resource to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards for London” and the report “underlines why this continuing reform is needed”.

“We are now reflecting carefully on the findings, the core of which reflect our ‘A New Met for London’ plans and the briefing we gave to the HMIC,” they added.

“We will continue to work closely with the Inspectorate, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, and other partners to improve delivery for Londoners.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said he welcomed the report and agreed with its findings but said he was “confident” the commissioner Sir Mark Rowley can “turn this around”.

“We’ve seen, actually, from the inspectorate’s report some evidence of progress being made – not enough, still a lot to do but something’s been done and I am looking forward to more progress being made,” he said.

“We’ve got a long way to go but we’re heading in the right direction,” he added.