Met Police Vetting Failures Allowed Rogue Officers to Join Force

A review has revealed that the Metropolitan Police’s vetting processes were seriously compromised between 2013 and 2023, allowing officers and staff who later committed serious crimes including rapes, assaults, and drug offences to join the force.

The vetting panel, introduced in 2019 to address disproportionate refusals of applicants from ethnic minority and under-represented groups, overturned 114 refusal notices out of 505 reviewed cases. Alarmingly, more than one in five of those officers (25 in total) went on to commit misconduct or criminal offences.

Notable Cases

• Cliff Mitchell, a former Met PC, was convicted of 13 rapes against two victims, including a child. His application had initially been blocked due to prior allegations but was later overturned by the panel.
• David Carrick, a former firearms officer, was exposed as one of Britain’s worst serial rapists. He had failed re-vetting in 2017.

The review also found that:

• At least 5,073 officers and staff were not properly vetted; thousands lacked Special Branch or Ministry of Defence checks.
• At least 131 officers and staff who were not properly vetted went on to commit crimes or misconduct.
• Between 2018 and April 2022, 17,355 officers and staff had incomplete reference checks; about 250 may not have been hired if fully vetted.
• Vetting shortcuts were partly attributed to a national recruitment drive, a shortage of frontline officers, and rising violent crime.

Institutional Failures

The report concluded that deviations from standard vetting contributed to “police-perpetrated harm” and undermined public trust. No individual has been held personally accountable, and senior officers who approved risky vetting decisions remain in post.

Met Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams stated the force has identified and fixed these issues, emphasizing that the majority of recruits are of “exemplary character.”

Government Response

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has ordered an “urgent independent inspection” to review vetting and recruitment practices, ensuring robust checks are in place to prevent a repeat. She said abandoning vetting checks was a “dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe.”

Since September 2022, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has overseen the sacking of around 1,500 officers as part of a major standards drive.