Metropolitan Police Service

Lord Berkeley of Knighton Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for repeating the Statement made by another Minister in the other place.

The letter from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Stephen House, apparently contains a catalogue of failings. These include not only the misogyny, racism and homophobia characterised by the tragic murder of Sarah Everard; the failings in the tragic murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, including the sharing of selfies taken with their dead bodies; the revolting messages shared on a Charing Cross police station WhatsApp group; and the failings in relation to the murders of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor, written off as self-administered drug overdoses instead of the actions of a serial killer because they were gay men, but also the failings in day-to-day policing.

Besides theses high-profile cases, can the Minister confirm an estimated 69,000 crimes are going unrecorded each year, less than half of crime recorded within 24 hours, and virtually none recorded when anti-social behaviour is reported? If not, why does the Minister not have the content of the HMIC letter? Besides the strip-search of a schoolgirl because it was thought she smelt of cannabis, and the high-profile, controversial stop and searches—such as that of a champion athlete—can the Minister confirm that, in 25% of stop and searches, officers failed to record the grounds for the search in sufficient detail to enable an independent judgment to be made as to whether reasonable grounds existed?

And this Government want to give the police more powers, including those for the police to conduct stop and search without having to have any reasonable grounds. Can the Minister explain why this is, when they cannot be trusted with the powers they already have—powers the police have not even asked for?

In the HMICFRS inspection after the Daniel Morgan report, HMICFRS concluded that the Metropolitan Police’s approach to tackling corruption was not fit for purpose. I was a Metropolitan Police officer for over 30 years, and I am appalled by the litany of failings identified by HMICFRS. I am angry that so many honest, decent police officers have been failed by a minority of their colleagues, but mainly by their chief officers who have not addressed these failings.

I do not accept the view that the majority of police officers do not want to do the right thing, but I also do not deny the lived experience of black people and women in particular at the hands of the police. I accept that, without effective leadership which challenges racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of corruption, it becomes more difficult for good officers to do the right thing. I also accept that, without adequate resources, it is more difficult for decent, honest, hard-working police officers to provide the service they want to provide —the service the public deserve.

The Home Secretary faces a dilemma. The Metropolitan Police Service needs a brave, courageous leader who is prepared to speak out, tell the truth and bring about seismic change in the service—just the sort of person the Home Secretary does not want. It needs someone who is going to make it difficult for her and the Government when they expose the true nature and extent of the Met’s shortcomings, and when they speak out when the Home Secretary and the Government fail to give them the backing they need in order to succeed.

Neil Basu, for example, currently the most senior serving Asian officer, has been a champion of diversity and has an outstanding track record, but he failed to be appointed as the new head of the National Crime Agency despite being on a shortlist of two, both of whom were rejected by the Home Secretary. Why?

The last-minute, no-notice political attack on the Mayor of London by the Minister in the other place was disgraceful. If anything, does this not show the ineffectiveness of the system of police and crime commissioners? It should be noted that, of the six forces in special measures, four have Conservative PCCs, and the two others have directly elected mayors.

The Metropolitan Police Service does not need another commissioner who promises not to rock the boat, who goes along with cuts in police resources that impact on operational effectiveness, and who does not stand up to the Home Secretary and the Government. Decent, honest, hard-working police officers deserve better. When will the Government appoint the right person, with the right backing, to turn this appalling situation around?

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, I thank both noble Lords for the points they have made. I join them in deeply regretting the death of Zara Aleena and all the other people they mentioned—far too many —who have been killed and the examples of poor or bad practice within the Metropolitan Police. This underlines the reason we are here today, which is the “engage” process that has been triggered. I think we probably all agree on that. The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, made the point that we all have our part to play, and I totally agree with that.

Both noble Lords also made the point about the Statement given in the House of Commons being different to the one shared beforehand. I listened to my right honourable friend’s response, and, basically, the points he made reflected his experience while he was deputy mayor for policing in London. That was the reason he gave; I repeat it here. Clearly, what he said was part of the experience he had.

The noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Paddick, made the point that it is depressing to read the report, and both were absolutely right that so many Metropolitan police officers are excellent—they are. They run into danger as opposed to running away from it. I think there will be police officers in the Met who are glad that this has happened, because it gives a fresh opportunity to address some of the very serious issues that I have addressed at this Dispatch Box time and again.

Both noble Lords mentioned Child Q in their questions. That was a particularly shocking episode. As both noble Lords probably know, the use of strip-search is covered by Code C of PACE 1984, which sets out the processes that police must follow when using that power. It can be carried out only by police officers of the same sex as the individual being searched. When searching a child, an appropriate adult must be present, unless the child specifically requests otherwise and the appropriate adult agrees. This is set out in the PACE code and must be followed by the police.

Since the publication of the safeguarding report into Child Q, the Met has ensured that officers and staff have a fully refreshed understanding of the policy for conducting a further search, particularly the requirement for an appropriate adult to be present. It has given officers advice around dealing with schools, ensuring that children are treated as children and considering safeguarding for under-18s. It has delivered training on adultification to all front-line officers in the Central East Command Unit, which covers Hackney and Tower Hamlets. It has reviewed the policy for further searches for those under 18 and made changes to ensure that it recognises that in these circumstances a child may be vulnerable to being a victim of exploitation. It has also introduced new measures so that an inspector must now give authority before the search takes place, to ensure there is appropriate oversight. A Merlin report must also be submitted to ensure that the safeguarding of the child is the priority.

The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, talked about the answering of 999 calls. I understand that 70% are answered within 10 seconds, but clearly we could do better. That is probably the answer there. The noble Lord talked about the victims Bill. Pre-legislative scrutiny ends at the end of July, and we expect the Bill to be introduced in September or October.

Both noble Lords talked about a combination of abuse of position, which of course the Angiolini inquiry is dealing with, and corruption, which HMICFRS did an inspection on, on the back of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report. The acting commissioner publicly committed to implementing all the 20 recommendations that it made. Most importantly, the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, has done her review into the culture in the police. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, talked about some of the cultural manifestations, with gay men and black people being treated as somehow less than their white or heterosexual counterparts. I think the noble Baroness will have delved into that. There were also of course the terrible murders committed by Stephen Port. In many ways, those investigations were treated less properly than they should have been.

Both noble Lords asked me about the process for appointing the Met Police chief. Obviously, it is written into law. I cannot comment on individuals who have applied, but the Home Secretary will take into account the comments of the Mayor of London.

The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, asked me about the 69,000 crimes that go unrecorded and said that in 25% of stop and searches the reasons are unrecorded. I cannot confirm or deny that because I do not have the figures before me, but I will write a note to him on that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, on whether the Home Secretary approved it, I saw the “check against delivery” vision of it, so I cannot comment any further than that. However, when these things happen, instead of the back and forth that we saw a lot of in the Commons, with people blaming each other, I will take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, that we need to work together to resolve these things. Every victim, incident and controversial issue that has happened is the rationale for this “Engage” process to have been triggered. In some ways we should be not glad that it has happened but pleased that the process is now in place to stop these sorts of things happening, as they have been all too frequently.

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness for jumping the gun earlier. However, perhaps I can compensate for that by building on something that she said which I agree with. Before I say that, I should say that I do not demur from any of the condemnation that we have heard from noble Lords about some of the terrible things that have happened. However, it seems—this is where I agree with the noble Baroness—that we have to as a society consider what we are asking the police to do, and not only the police but the NHS. One thing that we somehow have to get a hold on is the sheer number of people who are drunk, mentally ill or addicted to drugs, and the amount of time that casualty officers, police officers and even prison officers seem to spend dealing with these things, writing up the reports. Somehow, we almost need a third agency to deal with these people—I have mentioned this before in your Lordships’ House and it even found some favour—to allow the police to concentrate on the job they do. When we consider judgment on the behaviour of the police, it is worth pointing out these problems and what we expect of them in those circumstances.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

The noble Lord points to the very good work that the police often do, and to non-policing work that the police often do. He mentioned mental health problems, which the police very often deal with on a Friday and Saturday night, and probably other nights of the week as well. I recall that, some time ago, we made a decision not to put people with mental health problems into custody suites because it is clearly the wrong thing for them, and never to put children into custody suites. He also brought to mind the benefit of a multiagency approach. We all need to work together to tackle these problems so that it is not solely the job of the police.