Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said:
“The behaviour depicted in this programme is reprehensible and completely unacceptable.
“Officers behaving in such appalling, criminal ways, let down our communities and will cause some to question if their sons and daughters are safe in our cells, and whether they would be believed and respected as victims of crime. For that, I am truly sorry.
“In line with our uncompromising approach, within 48 hours of these allegations being received, nine officers and one staff member had been suspended, with two more officers removed from frontline duties.
“It’s my expectation that for those involved, where there is incontrovertible evidence of racism, misogyny, anti-Muslim sentiment or bragging about excessive use of force, they will be put on a fast-track hearing within weeks and on a path to likely dismissal. We stand ready to work with the IOPC to make this happen.
“We have disbanded the custody team at Charing Cross, made changes to local leadership and have begun wider work to identify any other areas of concern in detention teams across the Met.
“As Commissioner, I have been candid about the systemic, cultural, leadership and regulatory failings that have allowed misogyny, racism and a lack of public service ethos to put down deep roots. We are part way into conducting what is already the biggest corruption clear-out in British policing history. We are relentlessly arresting and sacking officers and staff with 11 forced out each week – more than triple the rate of the previous weak approaches that left this toxic legacy behind.
“This progress stands on the determination of the good majority of our people who have stepped forward and reported wrongdoing at three times the rate. We are all committed to relentlessness until that job is finished.
“Having cleared out huge volumes of unsuitable staff over recent years, we are now probing deeper into the corrupt networks and cliques our actions have driven underground.
“We are hardening our policies such as bringing membership of secret societies into the light, and deploying AI and analytical intelligence technologies to spot early signs and troubling trends in our staff’s behaviour.
“The vast majority of our people join policing with a vocational sense of public duty. We’ll support even more staff to report wrongdoing and we will equip and develop our leaders to help them succeed in driving lasting cultural change. Those who can’t or won’t improve should expect to leave.”
Panorama: Undercover In The Police is shown on BBC One at 9pm tonight.
