Met Police: Problems not just a ‘few bad apples’, says chief

Acting Met Commissioner Sir Stephen House has admitted cultural problems in the force are "not a few bad apples".

Sir Stephen, who is temporarily leading the Met after Dame Cressida Dick's departure, said there were efforts to root out unacceptable behaviour "as fast as possible".

Dame Cressida quit after losing the confidence of the Mayor of London.

Her resignation came after a number of scandals - including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer.

Other damaging scandals included offensive messages exchanged by a team at Charing Cross and the strip-search of a black teenage girl at school.

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Wednesday Sir Stephen was asked by MPs if it was just a "few bad people" within the Met.

He replied: "People have talked about a few bad apples, quite clearly that's not the situation at all, it's not a few bad apples.

"You can't simply say that Wayne Couzens and a couple of other people have done something wrong - that's been the spearhead of the problem, I would suggest.

"But there is a wider issue within the organisation which we acknowledge and we are dealing with."

Police forces in England and Wales are trying to recruit 20,000 officers by next year to replace jobs cut during austerity measures.

Sir Stephen said he was now "less confident" the Met would meet its targets.

The force needs to attract 40,000 applicants in the next year to replace officers who leave as well as attracting 1,800 new starters, Sir Stephen explained.

He said: "We need to recruit just over 4,000 officers in the next 12 months.

"That means we need around about 40,000 applications in the next 12 months because we take roughly one in 10 of the people who apply to us."

A strategic review of policing last month suggested that officers should have to hold licences that would be renewed every five years.

Sir Stephen said he would "not be opposed" to a scheme similar to that used for doctors.

"We would certainly expect doctors to know what the recent developments are, what medication et cetera, what treatments, we should expect the same of police officers, and there is constant change."

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