IN HER WORDS - one woman's experiences of racism and misogyny in the Metropolitan Police.

I am sharing this ex-officer's words here, as they were sent to me, without edits. She wishes to remain anonymous but has given me permission to publish the statement below. Please show your support in the comments, anything other than supportive messages will be deleted immediately.

Corruption, racism and sexism is rife in the Metropolitan Police Service

I served in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for over two decades. I thoroughly enjoyed my job serving and protecting Londoners. It was the internal canteen culture that prompted me to make a heart-breaking decision to take early retirement. The racism, sexism, favouritism, unconscious bias, discrimination, corruption, fear of being targeted for speaking out and the lack of support and understanding around staff welfare were the factors that added to my decision. The toxic environment began to impact on my personal live causing me severe anxiety and stress. I was exhausted watching my back all the time. I became so paranoid about being watched, I installed CCTV cameras all around the outside my house. It was never my intention to retire before the age of 55. I had no choice but to cut my losses by losing a significant amount of lump sum from my pension. It was not an easy decision to make, but it was for the best interest of my mental health and wellbeing, which was exacerbated by Mangers.

The Commissioner has no control over what goes on in each Borough Command Unit (BCU). It would be incorrect for a Commissioner to categorically deny the wrongdoings. Each BCU manage their own staffing numbers and how they deal with their internal issues. Managers do not always get things right. They bend the rules to suit themselves. They do what is best for the BCU’s business needs. Employment tribunal cases continue to rise in the MPS. Managers abuse the Unsatisfactory Attendance and Performance (UPP). They throw it at you as a blanket policy without considering the individual circumstances. This can be evidenced by Buchannan-v-MP - Buchannan took his case to the employment tribunal (ET) claiming discrimination and disability discrimination under the Equality Act. The claimant was a serving police officer who had a disability by virtue of a serious motorcycle accident he had when he was responding to an emergency call. He was made subject to the "Unsatisfactory Performance Procedure" laid down in the Police (Performance) Regulations 2012. He complained to the ET that a series of steps taken at the first and second stages of that procedure amounted to discrimination arising from disability. He won the case on the ground of disability discrimination under the Equality Act. This case highlighted that applying procedures rigidly will often not be enough to avoid an adverse finding. The employer must take account of the circumstances of each case and, where necessary, make appropriate adjustments.

Unfortunately, I fell a victim of UPP. In October 2019, I was off sick leave due to a pre-planned operation. A 60-day case conference took place. I was informed that if I continue to remain off sick, I will be subject to the UPP. This caused me so much stress that my mental health began to decline. As a result of a separate incident inflicted upon me by the MPS, my mental health rapidly declined resulting in an overdose, which hindered my return to work and jeopardised my prospects of promotion that I was working towards.

It was only in the last 3 years of my career I became very vocal and stood up to how I was treated, the injustice, inequality, misogyny, discrimination, corruption, and racism. I began to challenge the ill treatment I had to endure and the lack of empathy from Management. It was then when my cards were marked because I spoke out. You are not allowed to have a voice. There is a 'Do as you are told' culture which is embedded in the MPS structure.

In my time working for the MPS, sexism was the norm and was never got dealt with. It was brushed off as light banter. Some male colleagues treat women like animals. They have a point scoring system, who can sleep with a certain female first. They will then discuss whether that female was good in bed. I worked with an officer who was so crude about women. He met a female whilst on duty and slept with her. He then dumped her and slept with another female who worked her. His behaviour towards women was vile. He would go into details of his sexual encounters with women and how many women he slept with. This officer is now a Sergeant in the MPS. It had to take the Wayne Couzens horrific crime for the MPS to take misogamist attitudes of police officers seriously. I just hope for the sake of public trust and confidence, the MPS have and will never take these matters seriously.

Race has always been a big problem within the MPS amongst minority ethnic staff and officers. I have experienced and witnessed direct and indirect racism. My promotion was blocked twice, once by a senior officer who got me 'stuck on' for calling him a 'racist.' This prevented me from applying until the complaint was resolved. Although I did not call him racist, the fact of the matter is he is a very racist man. I heard and witnessed how he openly used offensive language to describe black people, referring to them as 'Coloured' and 'Niggers' He was untouchable because of his connections with the Masons. I witnessed how he ‘cherry picked’ two white officers to put them in acting roles against 2 minority ethnic applicants. When I sent him an email to register my interest, he stated you will be wasting your time because the two roles are already spoken for. No interviews or application process took place. The roles were just given to our white counterparts. A few months later the promotion process was advertised. He interviewed one of those officer's he favoured, who was subsequently promoted. The second time my promotion was blocked because I was told my sickness record did not meet the selection criteria. The period of sickness related to a matter that was inflicted upon me by management failures. When I pointed this out, the Inspector who made the decision stated her decision was final. She did not send my appeal to the Borough Commander, which was the correct procedure to follow but I was punished by my promotion being blocked using my sickness record as an excuse. I later discussed the issue with a Chief Inspector who stated that period of the sickness record should have been written off. These are common practices used to block ethnic minority officers from progressing.

As the saying goes, ‘Actions speak louder than words’ The previous Borough I was posted on, a particular senior officer looked at minority ethnic officers like dirt. He did everything in his power to block our promotion. I speak on behalf of many minority ethnic officers who are too frightened to put their head above the parapet. I have nothing to lose by speaking out and tell the public exactly how it is. It is only fair that the general public know the real MPS and how the internal wrongdoings continue to this date. Of course, the MPS will deny the wrongdoings. Take it from the horse’s mouth, it is a very racist and sexist Organisation! I have witnessed the behaviours and have also been on the receiving end of it. People are too frightened to challenge poor management practices due to fear of losing their jobs and being 'targeted.' If it wasn’t for the Home Office quota to recruit a percentage of minority ethnic officers, the Police Service would still be ‘All white.’ BAME’s are just a statistic!

During the 2012 Olympics, the Olympics team recruited officers from Newham. The Inspector wanted certain officers on the Olympics Team. These officers were given answers to the interview questions beforehand to ensure they were successful. The rest were informed they were unsuccessful. These are common practices used to make up a Unit of officers that Managers want on their teams. If your face does not fit and you are not the right colour, you have no chance. One of the reasons why minority ethnic officers will not apply for specialist roles because they know very well their application will not pass the paper sift.

A few years ago, I went to a leaving Do. (Bearing in mind it was after the MacPherson report, (The Equality and Diversity training had already been delivered MPS wide) A Sergeant who I knew very well had a habit of becoming very vocal when he consumed too much alcohol. He was so drunk and shouting, "There is no black in the Union Jack." There were several ranking officers stood in his group who did nothing but laughed. I could see several black and Asian officers looking on at his behaviour in shock. I was also in utter shock and felt very uncomfortable. I never went to any social events after this experience. Unfortunately, this Sergeant remains an officer in the MPS. How can you stamp out racism if senior officers stand there and let it happen? How can you tackle racism, if you speak out, you are the one targeted by management? These racist officers are the future leaders, one is a Detective Superintendent, 2 are Detective Chief Inspectors and 4 of them are Detective Inspectors. So, to put things in prospective, majority of the leaders in the MPS are racist to the T, so how does the Commissioner expect things to change?

In 2014, I was stood in the back yard and heard a team of officers referring to an Asian officer as a 'Paki' They were discussing how the officer was sacked. There were two Sergeants and one Inspector in the group all participating in the conversation without challenging the offensive language. I later spoke to the Inspector who said to me, “Wind your neck in, my officers were harmless. If you complain, it will be written off.”

I was posted with a white officer, and we were sat in a vehicle in the back yard waiting. Without prior conversation he said, "There are a lot of 'You' in the back yard today, it is like the Asian mafia." The conversation continued in the car. He asked me if I ate curry every night. He was a Scottish officer who grew up in a predominantly white area. He had a lack of knowledge on diversity. Some comments he come out with were unbelievable. He would say, you only got to look at Chatfford Hundred. It is Chaffrican Hundred because the place is full of Africans. Even during Parade, he would make racist jokes, but the Supervisors were very dismissive saying he was harmless, and it was just light banter. One of the Supervisor is now a Chief Inspector. Another racist leader!

I vividly remember when I went to an end of a Police Operation celebration drinks. The team had 12 male officers, and I was the only female. I took my neighbour with me because I did not want to be the only female amongst a group of males. I was being bought drinks. Every time I asked to get a round, I was told no. I had only consumed 2 small glasses of wine, before I passed out and was violently sick. I left the venue, and my neighbour took me outside to get fresh air. I continued to be sick outside and felt like I was going to die. My neighbour ended up taking me home in a taxi from London to Essex. Although I cannot prove it, I was adamant that my drink was spiked. I had never experienced anything like this my life. The next day, I went into work. The team were talking about how drunk I was. I challenged the conversation and said that I am sure someone spiked my drink. One of the officers started to laugh and said we are all cops and why I thought that. Fast forward a few months, it turned out an officer who is no longer in the MPS, did spike my drink. He used to make advances towards me, but I was not interested. He thought he could get his way if I was in an intoxicated state. This was the same male officer who gave me a lift home one night as I did not have my car and we finished work at 0200 hours. As we were driving on a motorway, he asked me if I was in a happy relationship. The conversation continued for a few minutes and then he said to me can you stroke my hand. I felt very awkward and said it as inappropriate. He said stroking his hand didn’t mean I was being unfaithful to my partner. He took my right hand and put it on top of his left hand, which was in the gearstick. I felt trapped and so uncomfortable. There was nothing I could do because I was in a car on the motorway and no way out. The next day when we went into work, he told two of his male colleagues that I was stroking his hand whilst he was driving. He felt so embarrassed and had to explain that he took my hand and put it on top of his. I felt I was powerless and couldn’t do anything.

Another incident that I witnessed. I was on parade with over 25 officers. A white officer was eating a banana. When he finished, he got up from the 2nd row and approached a black officer on the other side of the room and said, “Here you are, throw it in the bin.” Everyone started to laugh. I did not realise why people were laughing. The black officer later said to me, “Did you not realise it was blatantly racist.” The black officer later pulled up the male officer who stated, “It is only a bit of banter.” News travelled fast. The whole team became aware that the male officer was challenged by the black officer about the banana skin. Everyone on the team stopped talking to him. Whenever he walked into a room, everyone would go quiet. The officer had to request a move to another team. This officer applied for a driving course; it was refused. He applied for a Polsa course; it was refused. He knew he could not progress on the current Borough. He requested a move to another Borough, but his reputation followed him. He has since resigned from the MPS due to the racism he had to endure, yet again brushed under the carpet by senior leaders.

Another incident that I would like to highlight is the MacPherson Inquiry. A lot of officers do not agree with some of findings and recommendations. I have heard senior officers speak openly about the Inquiry. One senior officer said, “Black people just want to take over the police, we cannot let it happen.” I was flabbergasted. You dare say anything otherwise your cards are marked. If you want to keep your job, you just keep your mouth shut and carry on. You do not rock the boat otherwise they will ‘do your legs’ a common phrase used in the MPS.

During the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, the atmosphere at work was so uncomfortable. We were getting a lot of abuse from the public, but we had no support from our white counterparts. It felt like minority ethnic officers were taking the blame for the protests. There were heated debates with our white counterparts about how Police lives matter (PLM) too. We were told not to forget that many black people have killed and assaulted police officers. How was this our problem? Some took to the Intranet page to air their views. It was a difficult time for minority ethnic officers and staff. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. The tension was acknowledged on the Intranet page by a Commander who put a message on the Intranet page emphasising how he understood BAME staff must be feeling with what was going on as a result of George Floyd protests.

There are so many racial incidents I can talk about, but what is the point. The fact of the matter is the MPS is still Institutionally racism, sexistand will never change. Two decades on since the MacPherson report, nothing has changed. Minimal progress has been made and no lessons have been learnt from the findings and recommendations. The MPS need to stop paying a lip service and tackle the race issue and misogyny in the MPS. Unless you are a minority ethnic officer in the Police Service, you will have no idea how we are made to feel when it comes to selection, promotion, lateral progression, specialist roles, misconduct outcomes and tolerating subtle racial banter.

The question many people will be asking - How about the minority ethnic officers who make it to the higher ranks. Let me tell you - These officers who manage to work up the ranks had to fight twice as hard than their white counterparts. They will not admit this because they want to keep their jobs. They will only speak out if they leave the job, dismissed or resign because we are not allowed to speak to the press. I have seen how white officers are given all the help to push them up the ranks. They are given acting roles against minority ethnic officers who are qualified for the next rank. There is no fair process or an even an interview, jobs are just given to them. We have challenged the unfairness numerous times, but nothing changes. This is the reason why BAME officers are underrepresented across all ranks.

This brings me on the topic of complaints. Raising a racial complaint makes no difference. The Professional Standards Unit (PSU) look after their own. The PSU's across the MPS are staffed predominately by white personnel. They do not take any minority ethnic officers seriously when they complain about a race issue. The Times reported an article in November 2020: Black, Asian and minority-ethnic police officers are treated more harshly than their white colleagues when a complaint is made against them according to a report that raises new questions about racism in the Service. Officers from ethnic minorities are more likely to have their cases referred to professional standards departments for an official investigation that stays on their record, even for more minor complaints, which should be quickly resolved by a meeting with their bosses. I can confirm this is spot on, factual, and true to this date.

In my 26-year career in the MPS, I only ever made an official complaint about racist language once, which was in 2015. The complaint was never investigated. It was brushed under the carpet by senior leaders. I still have a copy of the complaint. There is no point in complaining because you are not taken seriously, merely labelled as a troublemaker, ostracized and made the next target. Whichever Borough you move to your reputation will follow you around. Phone calls go in and before you reach your destination, everyone knows about you.

Throughout my career, I have worked so hard and I am proud of my achievements. I left the Service qualified as a Sergeant, but my promotion was blocked, my face did not fit, and I was not the right colour. People reading this would be saying, "Why didn't you resign then?" The reason I did not resign because I owed it to my victims and members of the public to remain one of the most genuine and caring officer one can come across. A lot of suspects use to tell me that I was too nice to be a police officer. I always replied, "I am very fair and treat everyone with respect, whether you are a suspect or a victim." My approach and communication skills always played a vital part in getting the best out of people. I witnessed how some officers spoke to young black youths getting their backs up. Handcuffing them during stop and search encounters even when they did not pose a threat to them. This approach created resentment from the outset, which has a knock-on effect with the minority ethnic community having a lack of trust and confidence in the Police Service.

This takes me onto the subject on stop and search. There are two types of officers in the MPS. The good ones who comply with PACE when utilising the power, and bad apples who abuse the power. The bad outweigh the good. Every BCU I have worked in I have seen the power being abused by a minority of officers stereotyping and racial profiling. For example - Lets top him. ‘Him’ is always black. He looks dodgy or out of place. Reason for stop “I have just been stopped by an anonymous member of the public who gave us information on…. and you match the description!” The grounds are so easy to make up. I saw this tactic used repeatedly.

During my service, I never had any trust and confidence in the MPS. That says a lot about an Organisation who is still stuck in the 1970's and will never move on. 'You never know what goes on behind closed doors' is a true reflection of a dysfunctional Organisation who are a law onto themselves and do what they want because they are the Police. As the saying goes, “A leopard never changes it's spots.” If the MPS was a private Organisation, it would be bankrupt with the amount of tribunal cases they lose or settle before going to Court.

This is a factual article I have written from my personal experiences and observations during my career in the MPS. There were more good times than bad but the bad outweighed the good in the end.

In conclusion - what I would like people to take away from the article is as follows.

1. Stand up to wrongdoings.

2. Challenge managers, they are not always right!

3. Stand up to racism, misogny and inequality.

4. Treat everyone with dignity and respect, including your suspects.

5. Remember, innocent until proven guilty, not ‘guilty before proven innocent’ the mentality a lot of police officers have!

6. Never judge a book by its cover.

7. Do not tolerate what I went through. Stand your ground if you believe something is wrong.

8. Remain professional. If you want to make a career out of it, do not step a foot wrong, otherwise you will be their next target.

9. Watch you back and be careful what you say. Managers are always looking to knock you down to stop you from progressing because they do not want to see ‘Colour’ in the senior ranks.

10. Word of warning, your reputation follows your career. Keep your track record clean and do not give Managers any ammunition to take you down.

Finally, the job itself is very satisfying and rewarding. It is the clueless robots and the bad apples the MPS are promoting who continue to breed and promote wrongdoing due to lack of basic knowledge on equality and diversity.

A message for the Commissioner. If you do not tackle the race and misogyny issues within the MPS, you will see a significant drop in minority ethnic recruits and face severe retention issues. I was one of your talented officers who left due to your Organisational failure. The MPS should be a diverse Service, representing the community it serves. As well as failing your minority ethnic officers, you are also failing the minority ethnic communities in London.

Get a grip and take your failures on the chin and do something about the culture in the MPS before it causes more damage to public trust and confidence. I certainly never had and still do not have any confidence in you!