WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO
October 23 2025
WE ARE A MAGAZINE ABOUT LAW AND JUSTICE | AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO

Hundreds respond after Panorama documentary exposes Met Police racism and misogyny

Hundreds respond after Panorama documentary exposes Met Police racism and misogyny

Over 300 people have reported their experiences of racism and misogyny at the hands of the Met Police following a documentary exposing staff misconduct at Charing Cross Police station. The BBC has reported that these complaints followed the recent revelations that appeared in a Panorama documentary.

One woman described the police as ‘a boys’ club’ and says she would never call them again, explaining how officers responding to her call took seven hours to arrive and then stood around ‘laughing and chatting’ with her abusive ex partner. Another said that, as a black woman, she felt that ‘everything was stacked against me’ and reported being told that without CCTV it is ‘just your word against his’ and that ‘nobody ever gets raped more than once’. Further stories included other reports of police officers being ‘dismissive and mocking’ when responding to reports of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The documentary revealed similar behaviour in the Metropolitan Police after a seargent with twenty years on the force dismissed a pregnant women’s allegations of rape and domestic violence by saying ‘that’s what she says.’ At the time, former Chief Constable, Sue Fish responded, ‘As a woman, as well as a former police officer, individuals like him have the power to make these sorts of decisions about my safety or other women’s safety and that is terrifying’.

Following the documentary, Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has rejected calls for his resignation saying that it is the ‘misogynists and racists’ that ‘want me out.’  Whilst he recognised there were ‘systemic issues’ which  needed to be rooted out, he did not acknowledge there was an institutional problem, instead emphasising that the majority of officers were ‘good people,’

Former Chief Constable, Sue Fish, commented on the ‘highly toxic culture’ and said that Met leadership has never really grasped the ‘significance, the scale and impact’ of this. This is also echoed by Shereen Daniels, who formed part of the HR Rewired commissioned review of the Met, stating that it is ‘an institution whose structures keep reproducing the same outcomes’.

Women’s Aid emphasise that these stories demonstrate how, ‘despite numerous reports and investigations calling for urgent change …. Police officers continue to display misogynistic, racist and homophobic behaviours.’

The Justice Gap previously reported that Met misconduct was linked to an internal culture, which has been continuously exposed since the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. The Met subsequently commissioned independent reports into the force’s behaviour and culture but has since been said to be ‘continually suppressing anything that doesn’t fit’ a narrative of improvement.