Charing Cross Police Station

Sarnia
I was neither shocked or surprised.
One thing I will disagree with you is: Mark Rowley is as weak as water. Water has a purpose, Mark Rowley is as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike 🤬

I was not shocked sadly, the Met has a terrible rep in London where our daughters live, they, as well as their friends and neighbours say they’d be very reluctant to call the police. One friend of theirs joked that if you call to report a crime it’s likely to be the Met committing it.

I knew an ex policeman once. He was a sad man. He told me that he'd joined the police to put away bad put found that it was the police who were the bad people. It was such a shame. He was the sort of person that you would hope a policeman was like.

I was shocked and horrified by the attitude and behaviour of serving police officers.
Their appalling treatment of the seventeen year old boy who is autistic left me heartbroken. I have a grandson of the same age and with autism. Words fail me!!

The Met should be dismantled and it made simpler to dismiss unsatisfactory officers.

Those policemen who were filmed are a disgrace but I don't like to see all police tarred with the same brush.
I'm not sure why the Met seems to have so many of these types of men.
Even years ago police from other forces had a low opinion of Met officers.
Those who behave like this bring the whole police force into disrepute.

I wasn’t at all surprised.☹️

Probably not surprised by the findings of this report but not really sure how putting it out on the public domain helps anybody. These officers should be dealt with appropriately but on the other side of the coin they along with other emergency workers are often abused regularly by those who think it's OK
Will this report increase the attacks on serving officers most who do a marvellous job under sometimes very challenging conditions.

Our Godson and his wife are Met Officers, they are very disheartened with how all Met Officers are being tarred with the same brush.

They are in teams that have the most horrific cases, they save lives regularly and catch the perpetrators.

The top bosses need to weed out these despicable rogue police officers 🤬

rosie1959

Probably not surprised by the findings of this report but not really sure how putting it out on the public domain helps anybody. These officers should be dealt with appropriately but on the other side of the coin they along with other emergency workers are often abused regularly by those who think it's OK
Will this report increase the attacks on serving officers most who do a marvellous job under sometimes very challenging conditions.

I disagree, unless this is in the public domain nothing will change and probably get worse. Misogyny and racism can become institutionalised and seen as ‘the norm’ by those who work there.

I agree with rosie1959 this should have been dealt without being made public.
All this will have achieved is to make people distrust the police even more when most are putting their lives in the line daily to keep us safe.
It will increase attacks and abuse on police officers.

Those saying this shouldn't be made public ... How do they think this sort of abuse will be uncovered if not by covert filming? The BBC are hardly going to undertake these operations without making their findings public. If it's not made public how would the public know what's happening and how it's being dealt with, it would be swept under the carpet. Leveson proved that.

I think that the whole of the Met needs restructuring. New brooms etc.

My nephew is a police officer. He asked for a transfer to another part of the country. Privately he told us it was because of the ethos of some some of the officers.

Neither shocked nor surprised, unfortunately.

I watched the programme - that officer who got pleasure of riding in the police van with an arrested person and purposely hurting the arrested person by pressing all his pressure points to hurt him as much as he could. It was shocking viewing, all of it!

Nandalot

My nephew is a police officer. He asked for a transfer to another part of the country. Privately he told us it was because of the ethos of some some of the officers.

From what I can see there are some toxic older men in charge who have their own little circle of followers, others are bullied if they say anything and so many will just keep their heads down or ask to be transferred like your nephew.
Have seen this in places I worked in when much younger and imagine it happens in the armed forces where some have committed suicide due to bullying.
These men who are the ring leaders and their followers need to be expelled asap and there should be easier ways to complain about this behaviour without being bullied.
More than anything we need to challenge this behaviour in our society more widely.

I watched the programme and I felt despairing rather than shocked.

Lessons clearly have not been learnt following the murder of Sarah Everard. Some police officers in the Met seem just as bad as they were when I grew up in London during the 1950s and 60s.

Of course it should be made public. The reason that this behaviour has been allowed to flourish is because it has been covered up from the public for far too long.

I would say that Londoners were more at risk from being assaulted by the police than the police were at risk of being assaulted by the average Londoner.

This problem has been known about for years and been available to the public. Many Met officers have been dismissed. Chief constables have vowed to stamp it out but it is still happening.
I think the Met is too big and should be split. In large organisations like this cliques can form of the type of men who should never have become police officers. Decent colleagues will keep away from them and keep quiet as there will be bullying by this type of person.

There are bad apples in all Police forces and they should be rooted out vigorously.
Has power been taken from Chief Constables by the appointment of Police and Crime Commissioners, I wonder? This was a a new layer of bureaucracy which I have never agreed with.

AGAA4

This problem has been known about for years and been available to the public. Many Met officers have been dismissed. Chief constables have vowed to stamp it out but it is still happening.
I think the Met is too big and should be split. In large organisations like this cliques can form of the type of men who should never have become police officers. Decent colleagues will keep away from them and keep quiet as there will be bullying by this type of person.

I agree.

GrannyGravy13

Our Godson and his wife are Met Officers, they are very disheartened with how all Met Officers are being tarred with the same brush.

They are in teams that have the most horrific cases, they save lives regularly and catch the perpetrators.

The top bosses need to weed out these despicable rogue police officers 🤬

I also know some Met officers. One of them was partially blinded by a member of the public a few years ago, but remains an empathic, caring person who wants only to help protect decent people. There are many like him, people who have put themselves between the public and aggressors, but the ones we hear about are usually the rotten apples.

I was shocked, outraged and very sad to watch the Panorama programme. Horrendous examples of racism, sexism, Islamaphobia and misogyny in Charing Cross custody suite in the heart of our beautiful capital city. I am heartened that it was others working there or present that called this bad behaviour out and contacted the BBC, as whistleblowers, that lead to the undercover reporter going in to investigate. So not all in that station tarred with the same brush. Also several were aware of their failings but felt safe with undercover reporter, particularly in the pub, to show their true selves, so perhaps, just a small perhaps a little bit better than the culture a couple of years ago but still a long way to go.

Martin Rowley has his work cut out for sure to ensure those officers portrayed in the programme quickly face professional misconduct proceedings and are removed from office and for some ( e.g. providing false witness statements to cover up another officer kicking/ physically abusing a detained person) potentially facing legal charges for perverting the cause of justice. That is the strong decisive message that must go out to the Met- ie zero tolerance of any behaviour that falls below PACE and encouragement of whistleblowers.

I do know however such behaviour and culture is NOT the norm in all custody suites, from personal experience. I am semi retired but have a couple of roles, one of which is as an Appropriate Adult- AA. I go into police custody suites regularly to support children (anyone under 18) and vulnerable adults (MH, LD, previous history of self harm ie. any vulnerabilities) whilst in custody. Thats is the AA supports and advises them, sit in on the police officer interview, ensure the police follow the PACE code and treats the detained person fairly, that their rights are met and writes up a brief report. I have at least one private consultation with the detained person to check how they have been treated so far, what needs or adjustments they might need, help them understand what's going on etc etc during and what might happen next. I witness them having finger prints taken, DNA samples etc. In essence having an AA present primarily supports the detained person but also provides a safeguard to ensure fair treatment.

I have NEVER seen behaviour from ANY police officer as I saw on the Panorama programme. Simplistically, the provision of more AAs to support more detained people in custody, seems like a good idea, and would be most useful in those stations that have identified problems such as Charing Cross. That takes you to the station's leadership, senior officers need to agree and fund (not hugely expensive, AAs are either volunteers or on minimum wage, solely for the time in custody suite, not travel) to call in AAs. That's another thing Martin Rowley could commit to and encourage.

I know I have mentioned this before but years ago I asked a policeman what was happening in town. He replied that it was an EDL march and then added ‘ but it’s twenty years too late’. I was too shocked to make a note of his number or I would have reported him.