Pressure to rapidly expand police ranks across England and Wales has now been linked to one of the most troubling recruitment scandals to hit British policing in years.
At the centre of it is Scotland Yard, where thousands of officers were brought into the force without basic background checks, opening the door for individuals with histories of violence, racism, and sexual offences to wear the uniform.
How Vetting Rules Were Quietly Dropped
As part of the £3 billion Police Uplift Programme aimed at recruiting 20,000 new officers nationwide, the Metropolitan Police and at least five other forces quietly abandoned key employment checks.
The rush for numbers — and the funding tied to those targets — meant essential reference checks were skipped, despite the obvious risks to public safety.
An internal recruitment audit later revealed that senior bodies, including the Home Office and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), were aware that some forces had stopped taking references from new recruits.
Shocking Numbers Behind the Failure
According to a damning internal review ordered by Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, more than 5,000 officers and staff were not properly vetted over the past decade.
Among them, 131 later went on to commit serious crimes or misconduct, including rape, violent assaults, racism, and drug offences.
Even more concerning, the Met admitted that around 1,200 of those recruits would never have passed today’s vetting standards.
Rapists in Uniform and Missed Red Flags
Two serial rapists were among those allowed into the force due to these failures.
One was David Carrick, now serving 37 life sentences for attacks on 14 women.
Another was Cliff Mitchell, a former Met officer who kidnapped and raped a woman at knifepoint in 2023.
Mitchell had joined the Met in 2020 despite previously being investigated for six alleged rapes involving a child.
Although concerns were raised during his application, a vetting panel overturned the rejection in an effort to address diversity imbalances.
Diversity Targets That Overrode Safeguards
The review revealed that a panel set up to tackle disproportionality in recruitment overturned 114 rejected applications.
As a result, 25 officers were later accused of criminal behaviour or serious misconduct.
While the aim was to create a more representative police force, the report found that safety warnings were sometimes ignored to meet diversity and recruitment targets.
Money, Targets, and Risky Decisions
Senior Met leaders, including then-commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, agreed in board meetings to prioritise “speed and output” over caution.
Between 2018 and April 2022, 17,355 officers and staff joined the Met without full employment references.
The force also bypassed national security checks for military transfers and skipped intelligence checks for officers moving from other police forces.
Internal documents showed fears of losing £30.8 million in funding if recruitment targets were missed led to what the report called a “realignment” of risk tolerance.
Government Steps In as Public Trust Wavers
Following the report’s publication, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered an independent inspection of police vetting procedures.
She described the abandonment of checks as a “dereliction of the Met’s duty to keep London safe,” stressing that the public expects officers to be thoroughly vetted before being handed authority.
Her message was blunt: policing should be carried out by “the brightest and best — not criminals.”
The Met’s Response and Recent Changes
Metropolitan Police leaders insist that lessons have been learned.
Since Sir Mark Rowley took over in September 2022, around 1,500 officers have been dismissed as vetting standards were tightened.
Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said the force was being transparent about past failures and emphasised that most officers serve with integrity and dedication.
She added that the problematic practices identified no longer reflect how the Met recruits today.
Criticism From Within the Ranks
The Metropolitan Police Federation was less diplomatic.
Chairman Paula Dodds described the situation as “farcical,” saying the obsession with hitting recruitment numbers pushed aside common-sense checks and balances that should never have been compromised.
What’s Next?
With an external inspection now underway and public confidence shaken, attention turns to whether deeper reforms will follow — not just at the Met, but across all UK police forces.
The key question remains whether stricter oversight, accountability, and transparency can truly prevent a repeat of a scandal that allowed dangerous individuals to police the public they later harmed.
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