Statement: BBC Panorama investigation into Charing Cross Police Station

Like many Londoners, I am disgusted and angered by the BBC Panorama investigation into Charing Cross Police Station. Serving police officers engaged in misogynistic, racist, anti-immigrant language and glorified violence in deeply disturbing ways. This conduct should have no place among those who are meant to serve and protect us.

I know our community in Leyton and Wanstead is served by many dedicated and talented police officers who regularly go above and beyond for my constituents. But these good officers are being let down by a wider culture that is rotten at its core.

From the murder of my family friend Stephen Lawrence to Sarah Everard, and the appalling treatment of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, time and again the Met has been shown to have a toxic culture that enables abuse. Public trust in the Met is at an all-time low, and too many Londoners have suffered from the force’s institutional failings. The Casey Review found the Met to be institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic, and this latest investigation has once again shown exactly why.

The Met’s failings not only harm the communities they are meant to protect and undermine their ability to do their job, but they also damage good officers within the service. Too many are left exposed to colleagues’ abusive behaviour, while systemic failings make it harder to recruit and retain the skilled officers London desperately needs.

These issues are deep-rooted and systemic. I know the Mayor and Sir Mark Rowley are working to deliver reforms, but bad officers cannot be shuffled around or quietly suspended. The Mayor is right, there must be a serious and enforceable zero-tolerance approach to misconduct.

Modern policing has also become too detached from our communities. We need officers recruited from the communities they serve, and they must be properly supported to succeed. That means better training, stronger systems for safely reporting misconduct, and practical measures to rebuild local trust, not least restoring provisions like police housing in London boroughs, so that Londoners can serve Londoners.

This is a chance for the Met to change, but it will take real leadership and empathy. The headlines may move on from this, but those harmed by the Met’s failings do not.