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The Metropolitan Police Service in London is investigating allegations of sexual and domestic abuse involving approximately 800 officers, according to Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley. The statement came shortly after David Carrick, a member of the force, pleaded guilty to 49 such offenses, including dozens of rapes.
Rowley revealed that 1,633 cases of alleged sexual and domestic abuse over the past ten years are currently being looked into. In addition, all 45,000 Mets personnel will be rechecked to see if any previous offenses were overlooked, he said.
Carrick, whose case has drawn attention to the issue, admitted to six additional counts of sexual abuse on Monday, bringing the total to 49. The officer is suspected of committing crimes against 12 women over a two-decade period.
Commissioner Rowley apologized to the victims for the Met’s long delay in investigating Carrick, adding that he “should not have been a police officer.”
“We’ve let women and girls down, as well as Londoners,” he admitted.
He also stated that the force is aware that the high-profile case has likely shattered the trust of many women in the British capital in Met officers, which 10 Downing Street also stated on Monday.
Rowley admitted that the police department has not “applied the same ruthlessness to guarding our own integrity that we routinely apply to confronting criminals.”
Questions were raised when it was revealed that multiple complaints against Carrick had been filed with the police from 2000 to 2021.
Accusations made previously by the man’s former partner did not prevent him from passing the Met’s vetting procedure in 2001. During his probationary period, he faced claims from another ex-partner, but the mounting complaints did not derail Carrick’s subsequent vettings.
Suella Braverman, Britain’s Home Secretary, called the revelations “sobering” for the Met and “the entire policing family throughout the country.”
