Hundreds of Met Police officers accused of sexual and domestic abuse are exterminated in the purge by rogue cops

HUNDREDS of Met cops charged with sex offenses and domestic violence are being drummed out of the force in the widest purge of rogue cops in history.

Nearly 200 officers who have been labeled as bullies and sexual threats over the past 10 years are referred for risk assessment and could be exempted from their screening.

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Another 700 police officers are being re-examined over historic allegations of sexual and domestic abuse, with witnesses being re-interviewed in some cases.

Meanwhile, anti-corruption busters have discovered that 161 on-duty Met officers have criminal records – about one in every 200 police officers in the London force.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley wants to expel any officer with a previous conviction unless there are exceptional circumstances.

He also plans to put bad apples out of the Met by withdrawing their review in a legal first.

So far, 30 suspected police officers have been earmarked for re-examination and that number will soon rise to 100, Sir Mark said.

A landmark review of the Met’s standards and culture last week branded the troupe as institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic.

Sir Mark said: “The urgent thing, if you will, is that we get the cancer out of the body and that’s what this is about, that first step.”

In a letter to Home Secretary Suella Braverman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan today (Thursday), he outlined ‘disturbing’ figures emerging from his action plan to tackle rogue police officers.

The Met currently has 144 police officers suspended from duty in the Met and 701 on reduced duty, which Sir Mark admitted affects service to the public.

Resources were also diverted from the Counter-Terrorism and Serious Crime Commandos to support a strengthened Anti-Corruption Command in its task of investigating police officers.

Sir Mark compared the crackdown to his predecessor Sir Robert Mark’s war against corrupt CID investigators in the 1970s.

He added that his war on rogue cops is the most sweeping crackdown in the Met’s history because of the sheer number of employees under investigation.

Sir Mark wrote: “Not only have we increased our DPS by 150 people, but the scale and urgency of this work meant officers had to be withdrawn from other missions such as serious and organized crime and counter-terrorism.

“Over the last three months we have had an average of 90 additional officers and staff from these areas supporting DPS.

“The collective determination was seen through the surplus of volunteers.

“We made this decision because we cannot be successful in any police mission unless we resolve these issues as quickly as possible.”

In a briefing to New Scotland Yard reporters, Sir Mark added: “We need to do this for women and girls so they know they can trust us.”

The crackdown follows a series of scandals involving serious review errors in the cases of Met predators Wayne Couzens and David Carrick.

Both worked as armed officers in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit.

Couzens, who kidnapped the raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021, had a history of high profile crimes.

Serial rapist Carrick had previously been charged with domestic violence and sexual abuse nine times before going to court.

After Carrick’s eventual capture, all Met officers and civilian personnel were screened in a project codenamed Operation Onxy.

It revealed that 1,131 on-duty Met employees — about one in 50 of the workforce — have been charged with domestic and sexual offenses over the past 10 years.

They have now been reviewed, with 196 referred for management action, 689 cases re-evaluated and no further action taken on the remaining 246 staff.

Other actions being taken include an extensive search of the national police database, which so far has linked 38 officers and civilian employees to misconduct issues and found that 55 have criminal allies.

Those numbers are expected to rise sharply, as only a fifth of the Met’s 50,000 employees have been screened so far.

‘LET DOWN’

The Police National Computer also flagged the 161 employees with criminal records.

Of those, 76 were for serious traffic offenses such as drunk driving and careless driving.

Another 49 were convicted of crimes of dishonesty or violence.

Eight police officers committed crimes while on duty – three for sex offenses – and were allowed to keep their jobs.

Sir Mark said he was considering tightening the rules for staff with criminal convictions.

He said he wanted to ban anyone prosecuted for anything other than “the most trivial of matters” or offenses committed under the age of 18.

In his letter, Sir Mark also revealed how 1,000 people have now called a hotline set up with Crimestoppers in November last year to report suspected crooked cops.

He said 350 of the reports were being followed up with overt and covert investigations, drug testing and building information on suspects.

A fifth of the calls related to officers serving with forces outside London.

Sir Mark said: “There are tens of thousands of hard working men and women at the Met who serve London with honor and integrity.

“They’re tired of being let down by the hundreds we need to identify and remove.

“It is clear that the vast majority of our officers and staff are determined to confront those who have corrupted our integrity.

“I have seen and heard this repeatedly in conversations with those on our front lines. This is our collective struggle.

“Her pride in policing is undiminished, but it has been questioned. I was very encouraged by their willingness to move forward during these difficult times.

“I said we meant it, and I meant it. This is the largest doubling of standards at the Met in 50 years.”

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Met’s Common Police Federation, said: “We will not protect officers who have acted inappropriately.

“But we will support and represent real officers who need our help.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Sir Mark’s update on the work to root out unfit officers shows the scale of this challenge but I have faith in his plan to turn the Met around and ensure the force works for the public.

“I am also moving forward work to review the police firing process to ensure the system is effectively removing officers who fall below the standards we expect.”