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Vetting failures allowed criminals and sexual predators to join police force, report finds
People gather for a vigil for Sarah Everard in Clapham Common, London in March 2021. Serving police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, was charged with kidnapping and killing the marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend's flat in south London.
WOMEN’S rights campaigners are demanding profound and urgent changes to the police after a report found vetting failures have allowed criminals and sexual predators to join the force.
The Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report published today found that officers convicted of domestic abuse, sexual assault and indecent exposure were cleared to join the police service.
Rape suspects and those accused of racially aggravated damage and serious violence were also cleared, the report found, with some forces justifying their decisions by describing the acts as a “one-off.”
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