More than 600 domestic and sexual abuse allegations against Met officers under investigation

A significant number of cases involve domestic abuse situations where a couple are both in the police.

• Pramod Thomas
• 13 October, 2022

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By: Pramod Thomas

The Metropolitan Police has formed a specialist team to investigate domestic and sexual abuse allegations against police personnel, reports said.

It was reported that the new Domestic and Sexual Offences Unit, nicknamed the Daso team, has received 625 complaints so far.

The unit resembles the fictional unit, AC-12, in BBC hit drama Line of Duty.

The Daso team, headed by Detective Superintendent Annette Clark, was formed to restore public trust in the force after a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by a Met officer.

Clark said that the new team has expertise in  understanding domestic abuse and sexual offences. She added that the Met Police wants to remove abusive officers from the force.

According to reports, many officers in the new unit are women and they volunteered to do the job.

Last month, Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said that he is determined to root out racists and misogynists from the force. He is committed to show progress to the public in key areas in Met in 100 days.

The murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens last year remains a taint on the force. In recent weeks, it was emerged that officers exchanged racist and offensive posts on WhatsApp groups.

A recent report revealed that the Met failed to record 69,000 crimes including stalking, domestic abuse and anti-social behaviour due to improper response to 999 calls.

Detective sergeant Viran Wiltshire, one of the Met’s experts on domestic abuse, said that the rising number of allegations against officers looks bad for the force.

“One of the Met’s fundamental problems is it needs to get that lower level leadership right and have a low tolerance of poor standards. Inexperienced and new staff work better when they’re have strong guidance and that’s not happening,” Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr was quoted as saying by the MailOnline.

The BBC reported that as many as 1,600 allegations against police or police staff have been investigated across England and Wales in the past three years.