Over 1,000 London police officers taken off streets. Know why

Over 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers have been suspended or sent on restricted duties in the UK, revealed the Scotland Yard, the country's biggest force, on Tuesday (September 19). The decision has been taken as part of a clean-up drive to rid the force of rogue officers employed in the scandal-hit police force.

While 201 officers were suspended, 860 remained on restricted duties,equivalent to the size of Warwickshire or Wiltshire police forces. Currently, there are 34,000 police officers under the Metropolitan Police, meaning one in 34 police officers has been suspended or restricted.

Speaking on the decision, Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said there were plans to hold30 misconduct hearings and 30 gross incompetence hearings each month, meaning that around 60 officers a month could face the sack.

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"This is going to take one, two or more years to root out those who are corrupt," he said.

“The harder we work, the more effort, the more energy we put into identifying those who shouldn’t be in policing, and doing everything we can in the regulations and the law as it stands, the more difficult cases, the more difficult stories will become public, and rightly so," he added

Watch |UK: 60 police officers could be sacked every month; Home Office announces plan to sack officers

Met Police's damaged reputation

Over the years, the Met Police has been hit by a string of scandals, undermining the confidence of the British public in the force, deployed to supposedly protect them.

Earlier this year, Met revealed that 1,071 of its own officers were, or had been, under investigation for domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. Additionally, thenumber of reports from the public and officers of alleged misconduct has doubled.

Former Met officer David Carrick caught national headlines in February when he was handed 36 life sentences for astring of 71 sexual offences, including rapes against 12 women.

The effort to clean up the Met comes after a policing watchdog said“public trust in the police" was "hanging by a thread”.

Andy Cooke, the head of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said the most recent assessment urged for sweeping new powers to tackle what hedescribed as the worst crisis in law and order in living memory.

(With inputs from agencies)

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