Police using ‘Al Capone’ approach in biggest-ever standards clean-up

Britain’s biggest police force has removed more than 1,400 officers and staff from its ranks in three years as it adopts an “Al Capone” approach to uncover wrongdoing.

The clearout, sparked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, is the largest in the force’s history.

Figures show that 1,442 staff and officers were sacked, or resigned or retired between 2022 and June 2025.

The annual number rose from 146 in 2021 to 557 in 2024.

The Metropolitan Police Federation said officers were being “punched, kicked, spat at, driven at and stabbed” and “deserve the backing of their chief officers”.

The staff association added that “comparing colleagues to American gangsters” made the “work of our officers in the capital harder”.

Investigators are examining the number of grievances lodged against different squads along with data including the number of sick days taken and whether the amount of overtime is justified.

Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes: “In the same way we would take a sort of Al Capone approach to tackling organised criminality, we’re taking that same 360 degree view of misconduct.

“Looking at questions like sickness, grievances, looking at monitoring officers’ use of devices so that we can hold individuals to account, bringing all of that information together to identify officers and staff who are of the greatest concern.”

He said the amount of overtime taken can mean there is a problem.

Mr Jukes said: “Overtime and money are a big driver of people’s motivation.

“If the pursuit of that becomes self-serving, it’s a really problematic indicator.

“We ask a lot of people and many of our officers work excess hours, long hours, and are rewarded for that, and should be rewarded for it.

“But if you really drill into who your top overtime earners are, this is part of the Al Capone approach, you will find people whose performance does not match the amount of money they’re earning.

“So, it’s looking for those signals that tell us we’ve got problem places and problem people.”

Earlier this month, nine officers based at Charing Cross were suspended amid an investigation into excessive use of force and another two removed from frontline duty.

The allegations first emerged after an investigation by BBC Panorama.

The entire custody team at the station is being disbanded as the police inquiry continues.

Charing Cross was at the centre of a separate controversy when it emerged officers had been involved in exchanging obscene and highly offensive WhatsApp messages, some of the content of which was too extreme to print.

Separately, four officers have been arrested and a fifth charged as part of an inquiry into their handling of a sexual assault allegation against a colleague.

Four of the officers are based in the area squad for north-west London while the fifth is in the Met’s internal standards department.

Sir Mark Rowley said there are “toxic or corrupt networks or cliques” that might be resistant to change in the force.

A review of the culture in the Met by Baroness Casey in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder found that the unit where killer Wayne Couzens was based was a “dark corner” of the Met.

David Carrick, later unmasked as a serial rapist, was also based there.

Bosses have since brought in changes to move officers in specialist units around and to move officers on promotion, to try to avoid power networks forming.

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police Federation said: “Tens of thousands of Metropolitan Police officers risk their safety – and their lives – each and every day to keep Londoners safe.

“They are being punched, kicked, spat at, driven at and stabbed.

“They deserve the backing of their chief officers. Not a seemingly constant diatribe from the top of the Metropolitan Police that drags our proud police officers through the mud.

“The language and terminology used by the Deputy Commissioner today – comparing colleagues to American gangsters – makes the work of our officers in the capital harder.

“It tarnishes them. It is appalling. Our officers do not deserve it. It lowers already low morale. It is not fair and it is not just.

“The good, brave and hard-working colleagues the Metropolitan Police Federation represents are the first to say that the very small minority of officers who are not fit to serve should not be in the police service.

“If officers are proven to be guilty of criminal offences or serious gross misconduct, then we do not want these individuals in the job.

“However this message from police leaders that colleagues should be guilty until proven innocent is not acceptable. Police officers – like all people – have the right to representation and due process.

“Everyone should be working together to move the Metropolitan Police forward and make it a proud organisation again that people want to be part of and want to serve in.”