Thousands of corrupt or unsatisfactory police officers may be working in England and Wales because of poor standards of vetting during the recruitment process, a watchdog has stated.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) looked at the vetting of recruits in eight police forces and found many had joined despite having criminal records or links to organised crime.
The inspection was commissioned in October 2021 by the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in the wake of Wayne Couzens being jailed for life for the murder of Sarah Everard.
The Inspector of Constabulary, Matt Parr, said the chances of someone like Couzens—a serving police officer who abducted, raped, and murdered Everard in March 2021—would have been “clearly reduced” if better screening checks had been in place when he joined the Metropolitan Police….