Metropolitan Police‘s “Anti-Blackness” is Systemically Defended, Internal Review Finds
A damning internal review has found that racial harm inflicted upon Black people by the Metropolitan Police is not the result of isolated incidents, but is “institutionally defended” through the force’s leadership, culture, and very design. Published on Friday, the report by Dr. Shereen Daniels draws on internal documents and evidence, prompting the Met to acknowledge long-standing issues of racism and discrimination within its ranks.
The review,described by Daniels as the first to focus on the institution of the Met rather than individual scandals of “anti-blackness,” concludes that the force’s structure “made it inevitable that racial harm keeps reoccurring.” The findings come two years after a separate inquiry identified similar patterns of “abuse, denial and harm.”
The report criticizes the Met’s reactive approach, stating, “The Met doesn’t wait for wrongdoing. It waits for justification.” The review further details that force and coercive tactics are disproportionately applied to Black individuals compared to their white counterparts. The report asserts that “stop and search converts streets into checkpoints” and that the Met effectively treats “blackness itself as probable cause.” Daniels emphasized that her report is not simply a collection of individual incidents, but rather “a diagnosis of the structures that makes racial harm a consistent recurring pattern.” She also noted that the Met possesses an “advanced repertoire” to avoid meaningful change.
This report is the latest in a decades-long series of critiques of the Met. The landmark Macpherson report of 1999, stemming from the investigation into the failings surrounding the murder of Stephen Lawrence, already identified the force as plagued by institutional racism.
Daniels specifically criticized Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley for his reluctance to adopt the term “institutional racism,” characterizing his reasoning as prioritizing political considerations over acknowledging the harm caused.”This is how clarity is framed as political, and the power to name harm is surrendered to institutional comfort,” the report states. Daniels added that the body of work demonstrates how institutional racism operates in practise, embedding itself within systems, behaviors, and leadership norms that normalize discrimination and shield the organization from accountability. “The question is no longer whether the Met can say the words,but whether it can change the cultural,leadership and operational conditions that make those words true.”
Recent revelations of racism and misogyny within the Met, uncovered by a BBC undercover investigation at Charing Cross station in October, further underscore the depth of the problem.Several officers have already been dismissed as a result. Though, Daniels argued that the Charing Cross scandal is not an isolated event, but rather “a product of the Met’s culture itself and the way it is indeed designed.”
Rowley, who is three years into his five-year term and has pledged comprehensive reform, acknowledged the report’s power. He stated that it “calls out that further systemic,structural,cultural change is needed,” and affirmed his commitment to transforming the Met into an “actively anti-racist organisation.” He pointed to initiatives like “A New Met for London” and the “London Race Action Plan” as evidence of progress, noting a 10% betterment in trust among Black Londoners over the past two years – though trust levels still remain lower than those of other communities. He emphasized that leaders will be held accountable for driving change and addressing individual instances of discrimination through what he described as “the largest corruption clear-out in British policing history.”
However, the National Black Police Association expressed skepticism, arguing that the commissioner himself is hindering progress. The association pointed to the Casey inquiry two years prior, wich identified similar patterns of “abuse, denial and harm,” and lamented that rather of improvement, the situation has worsened, leading to further erosion of trust among Black officers, staff, and communities. they accused Rowley of surrounding himself with individuals who reinforce the status quo while claiming progress.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who oversees the Met, echoed these concerns, stating that “systematic and cultural issues within the force have not been tackled.” The spokesperson added that Khan expects Rowley and his leadership team to “reframe their approach to accelerate the pace of cultural reform and deliver the necessary structural change across the force.”
