Report brands Met Police corruption handling 'unfit for purpose' and criticises Daniel Morgan probe

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The Metropolitan Police's approach to tackling corruption within their ranks is "not fit for purpose", a watchdog has found.

The force has not learned lessons from the notorious unsolved 1987 axe murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, overall its procedures for rooting out corrupt staff are "fundamentally flawed" and it has a "degree of indifference" to the risks, according to damning findings published on Tuesday.

The Home Secretary called in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) after an independent inquiry into how the force handled Mr Morgan's case found it was institutionally corrupt, saying it had concealed or denied failings to protect its reputation.

Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said that the Met had "sometimes behaved in ways that make it appear arrogant, secretive and lethargic" and that the watchdog's 20 recommendations for change must be "among the commissioner's highest priorities" in order to restore public trust in the force.

"It is unacceptable that 35 years after Daniel Morgan’s murder, the Metropolitan Police has not done enough to ensure its failings from that investigation cannot be repeated, said Matt Parr from Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary.

"In fact, we found no evidence that someone, somewhere, had adopted the view that this must never happen again.

"This will be understandably distressing for Mr Morgan’s family and friends, to whom we send our condolences.

"We found substantial weaknesses in the Met’s approach to tackling police corruption.

"From failing to properly supervise police officers who have previously committed offences, to inadequate vetting procedures, and much more besides, it is clear that the current arrangements are not fit for purpose.

The Met’s apparent tolerance of these shortcomings suggests a degree of indifference to the risk of corruption, the report suggested.

"We have made several recommendations for change. If public confidence in the Metropolitan Police is to be improved, they should be among the Commissioner’s highest priorities," he explained.

What are the police inspectorate’s overall findings?

• In the past two years, the Met has recruited people with criminal connections and more than 100 people who have committed offences. Some of these recruitment decisions may have been justifiable, but the force failed to properly supervise these people to lessen the risks;

• Property and exhibits procedures were dire. Hundreds of items were not accounted for, including cash and drugs. In one instance, the security access code for a property store had been inscribed on the outside of the door;

• The force doesn’t know whether all those in sensitive posts – such as child protection, major crime investigation, and informant handling – have been cleared to the level of security vetting needed;

• Over 2,000 warrant cards issued to personnel who had since left the force were unaccounted for; and

• The Met still does not have the capability to proactively monitor its IT systems, despite repeated warnings from the inspectorate. IT monitoring is used by most forces to enhance their ability to identify corrupt personnel.

The inspectorate said it found no evidence of any deliberate or coordinated attempts by the Met to frustrate the work of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel.

It said that although there was much to criticise, based on this inspection it would not describe the Met as institutionally corrupt.

The Metropolitan Police said it welcomed the report and "there is a lot we need to improve on."

In a statement the force reiterated an apology to the family of Daniel Morgan and insisted it has not given up on the case.

It said: "There is clearly much more work to do when it comes to tackling corruption in its widest sense. We are absolutely committed to this.

"We are deeply concerned at the criticisms in the report on our approach to countering corruption and are urgently reviewing our systems and processes.

"On homicide, our investigations are unrecognisable from three decades ago and we have one of the highest detection rates of any police service in the UK.

"But other areas, which include criticism of our professional standards model, failures in how we store criminal property and exhibits, and the lack of monitoring of business interests and declarable associations, are extremely disappointing."

The Met said it had put more than 100 extra officers into its professional standards department, will carry out regular inspections on how items are being stored, and is planning to invest millions of pounds in technology to monitor the use of mobile phones by officers and staff.

It said it will publish more details on action it is taking to address the watchdog's recommendations over the next three months.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "The findings of the police inspectorate’s report into the Metropolitan Police Service’s approach to tackling corruption are deeply worrying.

"It is crystal clear to me that action needs to be taken at the highest levels of the Met in order to regain the trust and confidence of Londoners.

"Corruption has no place in the police service and with the failure to take adequate action, it’s another reason confidence in our police almost at an all-time low. The Met leadership simply must do much more; from improving their vetting procedures and policies to counter corruption; to the supervision of officers – to ensure the integrity of both personnel and evidence is fit for purpose."