Yard seeks faster justice for corrupt officers
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Scotland Yard has urged Britain's most senior criminal judges and the Director of Public Prosecutions to speed up police corruption trials, amid concerns that officers suspended on full pay are dragging out cases for years.
Two suspended officers whose criminal allegations have been withdrawn, but are facing disciplinary offences, have been drawing their full salary for the past five and a half years. Several other officers charged with corruption offences have been suspended for more than three years. In all there are 26 Metropolitan Police officers suspended on corruption charges, costing an estimated £1m a year in pay and other expenses.
Police chiefs believe the system is too complex and open to abuse by officers who wish to exploit proceedings.
Scotland Yard released details of the long-running cases, which are costing millions of pounds to investigate and prosecute, when it launched its new strategy for dealing with corruption.
Despite all the work in rooting out wrongdoing among the police, Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, conceded: "There's no way in God's earth that you can get rid of this type of corruption with the temptations that there are. The way of prevention is the certainty of discovery and a considerable prison sentence."
Growing anger at the delays in dealing with corruption cases has prompted Scotland Yard to contact Old Bailey judges, who deal with the most serious criminal trials, and David Calvert-Smith, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to voice their concerns.
Sir John said: "Prosecution has proved difficult. Defendants, who as police officers know the system very well, have sought every opportunity to challenge all aspects of their case. There is on occasion nothing these people will not do in discrediting individuals."
Sir John's deputy, Ian Blair, added: "We have written to the DPP expressing the Met's concerns. We have made representation and talked to judges at the Old Bailey who are concerned." He added that some defendants will "play every trick in the book" to avoid going to trial.
Scotland Yard has spent more than £20m in the past four years on anti-corruption work and has a squad of 64 detectives investigating police wrongdoing. In that time 40 officers and 15 former officers have been charged, of whom 19 serving and seven ex-officers have been convicted.
Instead of investigating whole police squads for corruption, its previous approach, the Met now makes greater use of integrity tests and scrutinises individuals who are considered vulnerable to approaches by criminals. Typically these are officers in debt, with close underworld contacts, and those who deal with large sums of money, particularly where drug cases are involved.
Scotland Yard is also concentrating on preventing corruption by providing better leadership and supervision, having greater security on intelligence and police records, and in the training of recruits. New officers are now shown a video in which a detective convicted of corruption tells the probationers how he became caught up in crime.
* Royal and diplomatic bodyguards are drawing up a voluntary "code of honour" as a form of protest at their former police colleague, Ken Wharfe, who has written a book about his time as a protection officer to Diana, Princess of Wales.