Footage of Met officers shows ‘nothing much has changed’, says Doreen Lawrence

Secret filming that captured Metropolitan Police officers making racist and sexist comments shows “nothing much has changed” since a damning report into the force nearly three decades ago, according to the mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon made her comments after footage, gathered undercover for a BBC Panorama documentary, appeared to show some officers at Charing Cross police station call for immigrants to be shot and brag about using violence against suspects.

Ten officers are facing “fast-tracked disciplinary proceedings” following the programme.

One of them, a police constable, remains under criminal investigation for perverting the course of justice.

Lady Lawrence’s 18-year-old son was killed in a racist attack in south-east London in 1993.

The landmark Macpherson report into Stephen’s murder, published in 1999, found the UK’s largest force to be “institutionally racist”.

Speaking at Westminster, Lady Lawrence said: “What we saw on our TV some weeks ago just goes to show that, since the Macpherson report came out, talking about institutional racism, nothing much has changed.

“We have talked about it over the past 30 years, but we are still talking about the same thing now.

“When are we going to find that police officers begin to respect the community that they are policing, and the community has respect for them?

“Unless we do something within government, nothing is going to change. What has the minister to say about that?”

Responding, Home Office minister Lord Hanson of Flint said: “She knows more than anybody else in this House how important it is that the police have the confidence of the community and that the community has confidence in policing.

“It is essential for public confidence that strict standards are upheld.

“I reassure her that we have taken action in the past 12 months to include new vetting standards, but, if she looks at the proposals for legislation in the next 12 months, she will see that that will put in place a range of measures to ensure that incidents to do with misogyny, racial hatred, sexual orientation and other transgressions by officers are dealt with speedily and effectively by the police.

“I hope that, this time next year, I will be able to give her greater confidence that the police have competence to deal with these issues.”

Earlier, Lord Hanson told peers: “The scenes in the documentary were simply unacceptable and deeply concerning.

“The Home Office supports the commissioner’s drive to root out those unfit to serve the public.

“The Government must improve standards nationally. That is why, earlier this year, the Government made changes to discipline and vetting, and we are intending to introduce further measures later this year to strengthen suspension arrangements and to put police vetting standards on a more robust legislative footing.”

Measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, currently going through the House of Lords, aim to improve standards in policing.

It includes moves to stop officers dismissed for serious misconduct re-entering the system through the back door.