Over 1,000 officers are presently suspended or on restricted duty, according to London’s police force, as the agency ramps up attempts to root out rogue policemen following a damning assessment that found it to be institutionally racist, homophobic, and misogynistic.
With roughly 60 officers facing disciplinary proceedings each month, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said it will take years for the Metropolitan Police Service to get rid of officers who have broken standards or were not adequately vetted before they were hired.
“This is going to take one, two, or more years to root out those who are corrupt,” Cundy said in a statement released on Tuesday.
The data were disclosed a year after Commissioner Mark Rowley took over the Met, promising to overhaul a force that had been rocked by a series of scandals, including the kidnapping and murder of a young woman.
The police department apologised in March after an independent inquiry revealed that the department had lost the public’s trust due to deep-seated racism, misogyny, and homophobia.
The force has about 34,000 officers. The figures show 201 are suspended and about 860 are on restricted duties.