Met police investigating potential failure to vet hundreds of recruits

"The Metropolitan Police is conducting an internal investigation into the vetting of over 300 new recruits who may not have been sufficiently checked for criminal convictions. Scotland Yard is looking into whether substandard or no vetting was used to check if hundreds of recruits had criminal convictions, cautions or criminal associations, or whether their integrity was at risk due to being in debt, as revealed by the Guardian."

"The Met confirmed they are conducting an internal review into the scale and severity of the potential error as part of ongoing work looking back on vetting and hiring processed from 2016 to April 2023. Concerns stem from recruitment carried out by the Met from 2016 to 2023, with the bulk of hiring having been carried out during the police uplift programme from 2020 to 2023."

The Metropolitan Police is reviewing vetting for over 300 recruits after potential failures to check convictions, cautions, criminal associations or financial risks such as debt. The internal review covers vetting and hiring conducted between 2016 and April 2023, with the majority of recruitment during the police uplift programme from 2020 to 2023. Reference checks were reportedly omitted for up to 18 months from 2020, which runs counter to College of Policing guidance. Officials are considering mandating an independent investigation by the IOPC or HMIC alongside the Met's internal probe. A case involving PC Adam Merriman highlighted possible consequences of vetting lapses.

Read at www.standard.co.uk