In response to the BBC Panorama documentary Undercover in the Police, Police Now’s Executive Team – Kurtis Christoforides, Clare Power, Penny Jerrum and Julie Anisiobi – make the following statement on behalf of the organisation:
Last night’s BBC Panorama documentary exposing behaviour of police officers and staff within the Metropolitan Police Service was horrific and deeply upsetting.
This goes beyond a breach of standards, it’s a complete betrayal of justice and the principles that underpin British policing.
This violently corrupt, misogynistic and racist behaviour has no place in society, let alone policing, and this will have a lasting and traumatic effect on our communities.
The damage to public trust and confidence is severe, and won’t just be felt across London. It resonates in communities across the UK, because the truth is – despite this behaviour not being representative of the vast majority of officers who are committed to public service and act with honesty and integrity – incidents like this are far too common.
The footage in the documentary is absolutely shocking, but it speaks to deep rooted cultural issues we know exist in policing and have been exposed and reported on before.
The public is owed better.
Meaningful reform needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.
We are not naïve to the scale of the challenge. Transforming the force’s internal culture is a monumental task, but it is vital and must be the priority. More needs to be done, urgently.
Police Now vows to continue to play our part in driving this change, by bringing more of the right people into policing. People who work with courage and integrity. People we can support to uphold standards, challenge effectively, and role model the behaviour that is rightly expected of frontline leaders. Not just looking at what they do, but how they do it and why they do it. People who always put victims and the public at the heart of what they do.
And the criminal and corrupt officers in the ranks, those who disgrace the uniform and betray the public, must be exposed, removed, and brought to justice.
The behaviours exposed in the documentary are not representative of the values we stand for at Police Now, nor of the thousands of officers who serve with courage and compassion every day. But they are real, and they must be confronted.
