Police watchdog investigating 'serious corruption and malpractice' in Scotland Yard’s own standards unit
Whistleblower claims senior officers covered up and turned blind-eye to wrongdoing
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The police watchdog is investigating allegations of “serious corruption and malpractice” within Scotland Yard‘s own standards unit, a director has revealed.
The probe was launched after whistleblowers raised concerns that senior officers in the Metropolitan Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) – the department tasked with rooting out misconduct – were interfering with investigations and turning a blind eye to wrongdoing.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was also investigating claims of racism in the DPS.
So far, gross misconduct notices have been served on three officers, one of who is also under criminal investigation. A “number” of other officers are also being assessed.
Jonathan Green, the IOPC’s London director, said: “I can confirm we have begun an investigation into allegations of serious corruption and malpractice within the Directorate of Professional Standards of the Metropolitan police.
“The investigation includes alleged interference in, and curtailment of, investigations by potentially conflicted senior officers, failure to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, systemic removal of the restrictions of officers under investigation and racial discrimination.
“As part of this investigation three officers have been served with gross misconduct notices and one of those officers is also under criminal investigation. Assessments on the status of a number of other officers remains ongoing.”
According to The Sunday Times, three whistleblowers from the force approached the IOPC to allege members of the DPS were shielding officers from a range of allegations.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Service has referred allegations regarding the conduct of a number of MPS personnel to the IOPC which is conducting an independent investigation.
“The MPS is fully cooperating with the IOPC investigation.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments