A London Police officer, David Carrick, admitted to 49 charges, including false imprisonment, coercive control sexual assault, and 24 counts of rape against 12 women.
Offender Abused His Power
David Carrick, 48, became Britain’s most prolific sex offender when his nearly two-decade-long campaign of abuse against women came out. It was found that Carrick used his position to control and intimidate his victims. He told them that no one would believe their words against his, a serving police officer.
He was suspended from the force in 2021 when he was arrested for a rape allegation against him. The Metropolitan Police Department apologised to victims after nine allegations of rape and other crimes were made against David Carrick between the years 2000 and 2021.
The Met Police had recently been hit by a string of scandals and were grappling with a crisis. The people of London had begun to lose confidence in the department.
UK Prime Minister Reacts
A spokesperson for PM Rishi Sunak said that the case was appalling and that the Prime Minister’s thoughts were with the victims. He also said that the department must root out officers like this so that public trust can be restored, which has been crushed by many high profile cases coming out one by one.
Recently, when a police officer was found guilty of kidnapping, raping, and murdering Sarah Everard, the department was rocked. He was given life imprisonment, the harshest punishment possible under UK law.
Public Need Answers
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that there are serious questions that need to be answered after Carrick pleaded guilty. Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said that such a pattern of abusive behaviour should have been spotted a lot earlier.
But since they didn’t, they missed the opportunity to remove him from the police organisation. The Assistant Commissioner also apologised to the public that Carrick was able to keep his position for so long and to continue to prolong the suffering of his victims.
David Carrick
David Carrick, then 26, joined the Metropolitan after serving in the Army. Even though he had been suspected of crimes twice in the previous year, including burglary involving a former lover, he cleared the vetting process without being charged or jailed.
When he was a rookie cop, he was investigated by his own department in 2002 after he was accused of abusing and harassing an ex-partner. There were no criminal charges filed against him, and he was not referred to the Met’s directorate of professional standards.
His career saw several more such cases of assault, harassment, and domestic abuse, but the surprising thing was that none led to any criminal prosecution. By this time, he was on the radar of the police in Hertfordshire, Hampshire, and the Thames Valley.
In 2009, Carrick became a member of the armed teams that guard the Houses of Parliament, government offices, and diplomatic missions. During this time, an accusation was leveled against him, which was also ignored. A similar incident happened again in 2017, when he was accused of assaulting a woman. Again, there were no criminal charges.
It was only in the summer of 2021 that he was accused of rape and arrested by Hertfordshire Constabulary, but then he was allowed to continue working, albeit on restricted duties.
The Road Ahead
Last year, London’s Metropolitan Police was beset by revelations of a culture of bullying, racial discrimination, and misogyny among some of its officers. In July last year, Mark Rowley was appointed the head of London’s police force to clean it up. He vowed to sack any officers who were corrupt, racist or had broken the law.
The road ahead is difficult, as radical reform is needed to set everything right. The damage has already been done, and it’s going to take a long time to heal the wound.
