Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said that he cannot sack police officers who are getting away with criminal behaviour and misconduct.
He said it is “a little perverse” he cannot fire them because they are not “under normal employment law in most respects.”
Previous estimates warned that there could be hundreds of bent cops on the job and Sir Mark seems baffled as to why the Met are “pretty much the only organisation” where a leader cannot fire people.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Tuesday, Sir Mark said, “Why are we pretty much the only organisation where the leaders aren’t able to decide whether people stay in the organisation or not?
“And of course, we are just as accountable as anybody else to employment tribunals, and all the other redresses that anybody would have.
“But you are robustly challenging me on the culture of the Met and our ability to build trust in communities.
“It seems a little perverse, doesn’t it, that I actually don’t get to decide who works here?
“That’s a bit weird. And I don’t think anybody else works in an organisation where that’s the case.”
He told podcast The News Agents in June, “So, something that most people would have no reason to know is that police officers aren’t under normal employment law in most respects.
“They’re under something called police regulations, in terms of how performance is managed, or how misconduct is investigated and dealt with, it is more bureaucratic, slower, more difficult than normal employment law.
“And so actually these issues are significant, and I’ve asked the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to look at this, and the Mayor has asked them to look at it as well.”
