You want to trust the Police. You want to feel like they have your back if you need them. You want to know that if you or anyone you love found themselves on the wrong side of the law, they would be treated fairly and humanely.

You would hope that in a relatively liberal democracy a quarter away through the 21st century all of the above would be a given.

And then Wednesday’s Panorama comes along highlighting yet another utterly toxic culture in a Police station. And of course racism and misogyny features highly.

Some horrific examples of behaviour from the BBC:

• Sgt Joe McIlvenny, an officer with nearly 20 years’ service in the Met, who was dismissive about a pregnant woman’s allegations of rape and domestic violence, after a colleague raised concerns about the decision to release the accused man on bail. He replied: “That’s what she says.”

• PC Martin Borg, who enthusiastically described how he saw another officer, Sgt Steve Stamp, stomp on a suspect’s leg. PC Borg laughed when he described how he had offered to make a statement saying the suspect had tried to kick the sergeant first. It was unclear from CCTV footage if the claim was true.

• PC Phil Neilson, who told our reporter in the pub that a detainee who had overstayed his visa should have “a bullet through his head” and “ones that shag, rape women, you’d do the cock and let them bleed out”.

Senior Lib Dems have reacted to the shocking footage.

London AM Hina Bokhari gave her thoughts on Instagram:

 

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She and fellow AM Gareth Roberts called on the Mayor to show some leadership in dealing with these revelations, saying:

The Met Police is broken and the culture of prejudice and abuse within its ranks continues to put vulnerable Londoners at risk.

They called on Sadiq to take concrete action to lead real reform.

Lib Dem Women Chair and Lambeth Councillor Donna Harris said:

The suspension of Met officers over alleged abuse and extremist sympathies shows why our ⁦@LibDemWomen amendment at conference was so vital — policing must be transparent, accountable, and free from prejudice if it is to earn public trust.

That amendment called for three things:

• the establishment of specialist Violence Against Women and Girls task forces in every police force that bring together officers and specialists with the training, resources and capacity to effectively support survivors, including by working in partnership with frontline women’s services,
• ensuring that survivors can always safely report incidents to the police, including by providing anonymous reporting options and embedding VAWG and domestic abuse specialists in every 999 operator assistance centre
• rolling out a Home Office-led national public awareness campaign that tackles myths around domestic abuse and VAWG, signposts to support services and promotes the role of new VAWG task forces.

Former London Mayoral candidate Rob Blackie called for major reform to return the Met Police responsibilities to policing alone:

At present, senior Met officers have an almost impossible job, juggling different roles. They have high-risk national tasks. They protect the royal family and diplomats. They also work to stop terrorism across the country. At the same time is fulfilling these specialist duties, they are expected to tackle crime of every type in the capital.

No other major country has this structure. The US has the FBI for national crimes. Its secret service protects diplomats and the President. State and local police handle everything else. But in London, our police chiefs are forced to split their attention between terrorists and phone snatchers.

Here’s a simple solution: reset the Met by focusing it entirely on policing London, investigating and solving crime in communities across the city. As the Met’s national functions are moved to national bodies, greater powers over crime and policing should be devolved to London’s mayoralty.

The Commons London spokesperson Luke Taylor said:

Like many other Londoners watching the documentary tonight, I was deeply disturbed by its findings. The Met Police badge should be an emblem of trust but, due to the actions of some, it risks being treated as a sign of distrust and discrimination. Londoners will be left wondering what has changed since the Casey report?

Once again, we’ve seen examples of women not being believed by police officers. The Met must prioritise rebuilding trust with women – ensuring confidence that when they go to the police, they’ll be taken seriously.

The public is being failed, as are the majority of police officers who are doing their best for the people of London. The Home Secretary now has a responsibility to intervene and work with the Met to tackle this behaviour once and for all.

It is certain that action must be taken not just in London but across the whole country to ensure that everyone can be sure that the Police will always conduct themselves with professionalism and respect for everyone and root out prejudice against women, people of colour, LGBT+ communities and religious groups.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social