The Metropolitan police has been described as ‘institutionally corrupt’ and its commissioner, Cressida Dick, personally censured for obstruction by an independent inquiry set up to review the murder of the private detective Daniel Morgan.
The findings of a panel inquiring into Morgan’s killing in 1987 triggered calls from his brother, Alistair, for Dick to consider her position.
The panel’s findings were a victory for the 34-year-long struggle for justice by the Morgan family during which they said they endured being ‘lied to, gobed off, bullied [and] degraded’ by those institutions they believed they had the right to rely on. The Guardian online article Dodd & Sabbagh 16th June 2021, ‘Institutionally corrupt: Daniel Morgan inquiry condemns Met’
Don’t say anything. We can live with this. Felony 2013 starring Joel Edgerton & Tom Wilkinson & Jay Courtney & Sarah Roberts & Melissa George et al, director Matthew Saville
Do you know the difference between a cop and a criminal? One bad judgment call. Fast & Furious 2009 starring vin Diesel & Paul Walker & Jordana Brewster & Michelle Rodriguez & John Ortiz & Laz Alonso & Gal Gadot & Jack Conley & Shea Whigham et al, director Justin Lin, chief rozzer
The terrorist and the policeman both come from the same basket. Revolution, legality – counter-moves in the same game; forms of idleness at bottom identical. Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
‘A serving Metropolitan police officer has been arrested in Kent on suspicion of murder.’ Wayne Couzens: Killer in Plain Sight TV, news, Channel 5 2022
In 2021 serving police officer Wayne Couzens raped and murdered Sarah Everard. In the six months after Couzens was sentenced more than 1,500 police officers and staff were accused of violence against women and girls. ibid. captions
In the last 4 years 500 police officers and staff have been reported for sexual assault. 351 are still serving. ibid.
6 years before the murder of Sarah Everard a man is reported for exposing himself whilst driving. The number plate is registered to Wayne Couzens. ibid.
2,715 police officers and staff have been reported for sexual offences in the last 5 years. ibid.
In the last 5 years 1,694 police officers and staff have been reported for domestic abuse. 78% are still serving. ibid.
‘Thousands of Whatsapp groups have been shut down.’ ibid. ex-copper
‘Carrick was the serial rapist in a police uniform.’ ibid.
‘The higher the rank the greater the level of protection.’ ibid.
‘PC Stephen Mitchell from Northumbria police was sentenced to two Life sentences. This is a serial rapist.’ ibid.
We reveal how widespread abusive power and authority really is. I’ve been speaking to the victims abused by those we turn to for protection … Some feel untouchable and free to commit sex crimes or domestic abuse. Dispatches: Cops on Trial, Channel 4 2021
The Met. The country’s top police force is in crisis. It’s reputation in tatters after being judged institutionally corrupt. Attempts to get to the truth have been resisted for decades … Evidence that the Met still has not faced up to the truth about police corruption. Did top cops get too close to organised crime? The fear that top cops allowed killers to walk free. Dispatches: Corrupt Cops: What the Met Knew, Channel 4 2022
There’s a crisis of confidence in British policing. But while confidence is falling, demand is rising and some are asking if the police are doing enough. Dispatches: Cops in Crisis, Channel 4 2022
More than half a million reported crimes were screened out last year. With resources overstretched, are those on the front line more at risk? ibid.
In the midst of a growing number of scandals, are the police really able to protect and serve us all? ibid.
Detection rate have fallen over the past five years. ibid.
Are officers themselves being properly protected? ibid.
There are now around one hundred assaults on officers every day. ibid.
The former police office Eirik Jensen … has been charged with smuggling several tons of hashish to Norway as well as corruption for several million krone. Mr Good Cop or Crook? I: Old-School Cop, TV news, Netflix 2022
He was closer to the criminals than he was to his own colleagues. ibid. investigator
21 years in prison … Everything is gone … Always on my mind, Why did it happen? ibid. Jensen
I’ve been a policeman for more than thirty years. And for most of that time in organised crime and narcotics. ibid.
I knew Eirik Jensen as a stable good colleague. ibid. head of narcotics
He may have been borderline but he was always on the right side. ibid. mum
Now it was time for us to roll up our sleeves and start delivering. ibid. Jensen
You won’t get anywhere if you don’t know who you’re dealing with … You have to be on the inside. ibid.
We’d actually managed to clean up properly. ibid. rozzer
This was the time Eirik Jensen starts to get awards. Mr Good Cop or Crook? II: Operation Silent
They were convinced I blew their cover but I didn’t. ibid. Jensen
Watching Jensen became a case of its own while the case against Cappelen [Jensen’s informant] continues. ibid. rozzer
I was confronted with allegations of smuggling hash and corruption. Mr Good Cop or Crook? III: The Connection, Jensen
Cappelen’s statement has one statement – to gain benefits for himself. ibid.
Drug smuggling? Never in my life. ibid. head rozzer
The verdict is unanimous … Sentenced to 21 years in prison. ibid.
Now I can prove Cappelen is lying. ibid.
It’s time for soul-searching for the Norwegian police after today’s historic verdict in the Oslo District Court. The court barely believed a word the former police commander Erik Jensen said. And he was sentenced to the harshest penalty under the law, 21 years in prison. Good Cop or Crook? IV: The Fall
I see that something is not right … [texts] do not match the time the hash came in … I wake up Eirik euphoric. ibid. wife investigates
There was almost nothing in the court documents that showed anything about where the hash came from, when it was smuggled, how it was smuggled, and that should make you think twice. That he is supposed to have smuggled such a large amount of drugs over such a long period of time with Jensen’s help without any evidence. ibid. appeal brief
Smuggling: Not Guilty; Gross Corruption: Guilty. ibid.
Southall, 1976: This was a racist murder [Gurdip Singh Chaggar]. Defiance: Fighting the Far Right I, Channel 4 2024, Balraj, Southall Youth Movement
We knew that the whole of the Asian community up and down the country was under siege, and we knew the police were against us … But we were the protectors of Southall. ibid.
The problem was there was a lot of hatred towards you. ibid. chap
School: There would be racial attacks in class. It was humiliation they wanted. ibid. Balraj
In our hearts there was a kind of anger burning. ibid.
Chaggar murder: I am quite satisfied that neither of you was activated by feelings of racial prejudice. This was basically not a racist killing. ibid. Mr Justice Lawson
Originally, there were five people who were arrested. Two were released and the other three faced a lower manslaughter charge. And they got very lenient sentences. Why were they walking around with a knife … ? ibid. chap
Brick Lane is now the focus of National Front agitation. ibid. news
You are doing this because of survival. Your community is under siege. ibid.
In the ’70s you got clear messages watching TV which mocked the Asian people coming here. Defiance: Fighting the Far Right II: A Killer in the Ranks, Balraj
The political parties were effectively falling over each other to be more anti-immigration. So in Southall we started building community resistance. ibid.
If the fascists got away with it without any opposition, what would happen to the small communities around the county? ibid. chap
The police decided they are going to make the centre of Southall a no-go area. So they set up roadblocks … [People] were not allowed to go to their own homes. ibid.
I left East London on that day with Blair Peach … The fight against racism was very important to us … We ended up penned into the Broadway for a long time … ibid. teacher
Suddenly, we saw mountain police coming with their truncheons drawn hitting everybody. ibid. chap
I do not know the thought processes of these officer. ibid. Asian rozzer
They [rozzers] protected them [National Front] and unleashed violence on us. ibid. woman
I had a fractured skull and a blood clot on my brain. ibid. Clarence Baker