London
CNN
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A serving officer with London’s Metropolitan Police has admitted to 49 offences, including 24 charges of rape over an 18-year period, reigniting calls for urgent reform in the UK’s largest police force.
David Carrick appeared at Southwark Crown Court in the British capital on Monday to plead guilty to four counts of rape, unlawful imprisonment and indecent assault involving a 40-year-old woman in 2003, the UK’s PA Media news agency reported. United.
At London’s Old Bailey Criminal Court last month, Carrick admitted to 43 charges against 11 other women, including 20 charges of rape, between March 2004 and September 2020, according to PA.
A series of recent scandals has shed light on what the UK police watchdog called a culture of misogyny and racism in the London police service.
In September 2021, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, a case that shocked the nation and sparked debate about violence against women.
Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Cressida Dick resigned in 2022, after a damning review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, it issued 15 recommendations “to change police practice” in the country.
London’s Metropolitan Police is now investigating up to 1,000 sex crimes and domestic abuse allegations from around 800 of its officers, the force’s commissioner, Mark Rowley, admitted on Monday.
“There are 1,000 cases to examine. In the end, some of those things will not be a cause for concern when we look at them because it will be a discussion that neighbors will overhear when investigations show there is nothing to worry about,” Rowley said in an interview with UK media.
“But, I’m sorry to say, there will be some cases where in the past we should have been more assertive and sought to remove officers and we haven’t.”
“We are going to turn over all those stones, we are going to draw the right conclusions, and we will be ruthless to root out those who corrupt our integrity. You have my absolute assurance on that,” he said.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has called Carrick’s case one of the “most shocking” it has ever seen.
“The scale of degradation that Carrick subjected his victims to is unlike anything I have encountered in my 34 years with the Crown Prosecution Service,” said CPS Chief Crown Prosecutor Jaswant Narwal.
“I congratulate all the women who bravely shared their traumatic experience and allowed us to take this case to court and see justice done,” Narwal continued as she spoke outside Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
The lead investigating officer in the case, Chief Inspector Iain Moor, called Carrick’s crimes “truly shocking”.
“The police service is committed to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms,” Moor said, adding that “no one is above the law.”
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Barbara Gray also apologized on behalf of the police force to all the victims.
Gray said Monday that Carrick “should have been fired from the police service a long time ago.”
He then added: “We should have caught his pattern of abusive behavior, and because we didn’t, we missed opportunities to remove him from the organization. We truly regret that Carrick has been able to continue to use his role as a police officer to prolong the suffering of his victims.”
“The length and nature of Carrick’s offense is unprecedented in law enforcement. But sadly, he is not the only Met official who has been charged with serious sex crimes in the recent past,” he said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Londoners will rightly be surprised that this man has been able to work for the Met for so long and serious questions must be answered as to how he was able to abuse his position as an officer in this horrendous conduct. ”
Khan said work to reform the Met’s culture and standards has already begun after an interim review and that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley recently set up a new anonymous police reporting hotline and anti-corruption team.
“But more can and should be done,” Khan added on Twitter. “It is vital that all crime victims have confidence in our police, and we simply must do more to raise standards and empower police leaders to rid the Met and all other police services of those officers who are clearly unfit to serve. ”.
Women’s rights organizations called for an investigation into the Met after Carrick’s case.
UK domestic abuse charity Refuge called Carrick’s crimes “utterly abhorrent”.
“When a man who has been charged with 49 crimes, including 24 counts of rape, is a serving police officer, how can women and girls be or feel safe?” Refuge tweeted Monday.
UK organization End Violence Against Women also posted on Twitter: “This is an institution in crisis. That the Met knew of Carrick’s pattern of egregious behavior and failed to act speaks louder than his empty promises to women.”
“Solidarity with the victims and all who feel the weight of the traumatic details being reported,” he added.
The British Women’s Equality Party tweeted: “The Met has known about the allegations for TWENTY years. They did nothing because a serial rapist abused his power. They are accomplices. Misogyny will never be stripped from the police without a nationwide legal investigation.”
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights, said on Twitter: “Any act of sexual violence is shameful. But it is also detrimental when, once again, these crimes have been perpetrated by a person who has a responsibility to keep the public safe.”
