London’s Metropolitan Police have missed “many opportunities” over the years to remove an officer from the force who has admitted multiple counts of rape and other sex crimes.
Appearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday, David Carrick, 48, an officer who served in the Foreign and Parliamentary Protection Command, pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment, indecent assault and four counts of rape. It was one of 43 other charges, including 20 of rape, to which he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in December.
The case has focused new attention on MeetThe government’s prolonged failure to tackle offenders within its service ranks has sparked outrage from the public and across Westminster.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “This horrific incident represents a breach of trust. It will affect people’s trust in the police and obviously standards and culture need to change.”
Yvette Cooper, the shadow house secretary, said Carrick should not have called the police in the first place. Furthermore, she said that failure to permanently suspend him from duty after he was first investigated for rape shows little has been learned since the murder of Sarah Everard in March. 2021 by a serving officer.
“This is a truly shocking and horrifying case with the most brutal rapes, violent and sexual crimes against women perpetrated by a serving officer,” Cooper said.
“It’s more evidence of the appalling failures of the vetting process and police misconduct, which have yet to be addressed by the government,” she added.
Carrick’s offense lasted from 2003 to 2020 and mainly took place in Hertfordshire, where he lives.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said he was working with Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to ensure that the force was more effective at weeding out officers whose behavior was “clearly criminal”.
Khan said: “Londonians will be truly shocked that this man has been able to work for the Met for such a long time and serious questions must be answered as to how he was able to abuse. his officer position in this terrible way.
Apologizing to her many victims, Barbara Gray, assistant Met commissioner and lead for professionalism, said Carrick was “a serial sex offender who hunted women for years, abused his office. his police service and committed the most terrible crime. , low crime”.
“The length and nature of Carrick’s offense is unprecedented in the police industry,” she said, adding: “We should have discovered the pattern of his abusive behavior and for not doing so. So, we missed the opportunity to remove him from the organization.”
The Met began reviewing his service, conduct and complaints records after he was charged with rape in October 2021, which determined he was on the federal police system. involved in numerous off-duty incidents both before and after he was hired.
None of the incidents resulted in criminal sanctions against him but they include allegations of harassment, domestic assault, malicious communication and theft.
The Met’s failure to uncover pattern in these allegations is reminiscent of similar shortcomings in the case of Wayne Couzens, the former officer who was jailed for life in September 2021 for the murder of Everard.
In response to last year’s review of misconduct at the UK’s top police force by Baron Louise Casey, the Met said it had invested millions of pounds and brought in more than 400 additional officers to investigate. criminals.
The Met said it was confident Carrick’s behavior would be pointed out by new and stronger testing procedures.
Casey said less than 1% of officers facing multiple serious crime charges – including corruption, sexual assault and domestic violence – have been fired.
