The Metropolitan police will face an independent special inquiry amid concerns that hundreds of recruits may have joined the force without proper vetting, raising fears that some could pose a criminal risk.
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is preparing to order the investigation, which will be carried out by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services. The concerns centre on about 300 officers recruited between 2016 and 2023 who may have undergone inadequate or no vetting before being granted full police powers.
Vetting procedures are designed to identify applicants with criminal histories, risky associations or vulnerabilities such as significant debt. However, an internal Met review known as Operation Jorica, launched several months ago, found potential issues affecting officers hired over a seven-year period.
The situation comes as the Met attempts to restore public trust following a series of scandals involving serving officers. These include the case of Wayne Couzens, who an inquiry found should never have been accepted into the force before he abducted and murdered Sarah Everard, and David Carrick, who used his position as a Met officer to terrorise women during years of rape and sexual abuse. Numerous allegations against him were not acted upon.
The Home Secretary and officials have been kept updated on the internal review’s findings. The forthcoming independent inquiry will examine how such failures may have occurred and whether they pose ongoing risks.
Many of the potentially affected recruits were hired during the police uplift programme, when the Conservative government pushed forces to recruit 20,000 new officers between 2020 and 2023. The rapid expansion followed previous cuts that removed the same number of officers from policing in the previous decade.
The potential errors occurred before Sir Mark Rowley became commissioner in September 2022 and relate instead to the periods when Dame Cressida Dick and Lord Hogan-Howe led the force. Rowley has said that about 1,500 officers have left the Met in the past three years as part of efforts to improve standards.
The Met has not confirmed whether the vetting concerns have resulted in suspensions, resignations or dismissals. In response, the force referred back to a statement issued in September which said:
“We can confirm there is a review ongoing as part of our wider work on standards, vetting and professionalism. It is a review of vetting and hiring practices between 2016 and 2023. This is part of our determined effort to raise professional standards across the organisation and increase trust and confidence within our communities.”
A previous report commissioned by the Met from Louise Casey in 2022 highlighted serious flaws in vetting and recruitment, including cases where individuals suspected of sexual assault and domestic abuse were allowed to join or remain in the force.
The new inquiry will aim to determine how widespread the failings were, whether they were systemic, and what action is required to protect the public.
