So many warnings about a toxic culture have gone unheeded. Policing is based on trust – as things stand, it can’t survive
The sentencing of David Carrick and the dreadful details we have heard of what he did and how his victims suffered forms part of a long line of awful events that strike at the heart of policing today. I wish I could say that I was surprised but I cannot. Aside from him being an abhorrent individual, the reason he got away with his crimes runs deep in a culture that has been in need of reform for a long time. And those at the top know this.
I have throughout my policing career extolled the virtues of the UK policing model, but in the latter stages of that career, I became increasingly concerned at the inability of the service to adapt and ensure that it responded as society changed. You can change the rules in which a force operates, you can change legislation, add new laws, appoint new chiefs, change discipline arrangements, but in essence, there has been little or no success in changing policing culture, identifying the good bits, dealing with the bad.
Steve White is a former chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales and former acting police and crime commissioner for Durham
