It took the death of Sarah Everard to prompt the Casey report. As a former officer I was sickened by the findings – but sadly not surprised
- Shabnam Chaudhri is a former Met detective superintendent
I felt sick to the core after reading Lady Casey’s damning verdict on the catastrophic failings of the Metropolitan police, from racism, homophobia and misogyny to allegations of serious misconduct not being upheld. It catapulted me back to 1999, when the Met was labelled institutionally racist by the Macpherson report in the aftermath of Stephen Lawrence’s murder. Casey has used language like “systemic bias”, which to my mind equates to the same thing. Nothing has changed.
As a Muslim woman who worked in the force for 30 years, reaching the rank of detective superintendent before leaving in 2019, I am not surprised in the slightest by the report’s findings and take no pleasure from reading it. I can only imagine how many officers feel vindicated by its statistics. I sobbed my heart out when I saw the statistic that black officers and staff were 81% more likely to receive a misconduct allegation than their white colleagues. I am most shocked by the fact that somebody independent has been able to say how bad the culture at the Met is without holding back. Had this been an internal investigation, you would never have seen those figures, let alone the detail.
