Tim Godwin announces measures to restore public confidence in the force following phone-hacking and bribery scandals
The acting commissioner of the Metropolitan police has insisted that corruption is "in no way endemic" in the force.
In a speech to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), the body responsible for scrutiny of London policing, Deputy Commissioner Tim Godwin issued a robust defence of the London force amid allegations of corruption in the phone-hacking scandal.
Godwin admitted the Met was facing "very, very, very challenging times" following the resignation of its commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, and assistant commissioner, John Yates, over the phone-hacking and police bribery scandals.
But he said he found it hard to hear claims that corruption was endemic within the force and that the Met had in some way "let its guard down and allowed corruption to infiltrate the police force".
"That is something I refute," he told the MPA panel. "We have a high reputation around the world, and corruption is something that we do not tolerate.
"In an organisation of over 50,000 people, there will undoubtedly be a very small number of staff who are corrupted, but the vast majority of the men and women of this organisation are honest, hard-working people."
He said the damage done to policing by corruption could not be underestimated.
"Let me reassure you, corruption is in no way endemic within the police service, or within the Metropolitan police, and we continue all we can do to root it out," he said.
"But it would be foolish if I did not acknowledge the perceptions that have been created over the past weeks."
Godwin admitted officers were "not entirely compliant" with in-house policies on recording and publicising the way they received hospitality, and outlined a number of measures being taken to improve transparency.
He announced that Scotland Yard would publish full details of the occasions when its management team had been entertained over the past three years. Policies already in place will be reinforced in an effort to ensure recording requirements were being met.
"Previously we published redacted registers, and I recognise that the public mood is for greater openness, and we will be completely open and transparent from now on," he said.
On the Met's relations with the media, Godwin pointed to the need for "culture change" identified by Stephenson before he stood down. Elizabeth Filkin, the former parliamentary commissioner for standards, will recommend changes to links between the police and the media.
"We need to be a lot more open about this to maintain the confidence of the people we serve," he said.
Speaking about the leaking of sensitive information to the media, Godwin revealed under questioning that, over the past decade, 13 police officers and staff have been prosecuted for misusing police information, 29 have been dismissed or asked to resign, and 208 have been disciplined.
Pressed on checks against the misuse and leaking of information from police databases, he said this was seen as a "key risk" and was overseen by the Met's security board and the professional standards strategic committee.
He highlighted a range of audits, triggered either by suspicions referred from a wide range of sources or random routine checks that are conducted every day on high risk databases by the Met's intelligence unit.
Locally, boroughs also have to conduct "at least" 140 random audits of the police national computer a month each.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/28/met-police-corruption-no-way-endemic
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