CYP Now - Met Police condemned over child safeguarding failures

The Metropolitan Police must address long-standing concerns about its child protection and safeguarding practice, including the view of some officers that black and ethnic minority children should be regarded as a “threat”, a damning report into the force’s culture says.

The Met Police must address failures in the protection of children, the Baroness Casey Review states. Picture: pxl.store/Adobe Stock

The Met has failed to listen to serious concerns around its approach to child protection, first raised by inspectors in 2016, finds Dame Louise Casey’s report which condemns Scotland Yard over institutional racism, sexism and homophobia.

The report was commissioned following the murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, who was a serving police officer with the Met at the time of her death.

It highlights particular failings in the protection of women and children across the capital by the force.

An inspection report into the Met’s child protection services by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) – then HMIC – published in 2016, was deemed to be “the most severely critical published about any force, on any subject, ever".

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