A crowdfunding campaign to raise money for two Metropolitan Police officers who were fired for gross misconduct has exposed the “toxic culture of the Met”, according to Jules Carey, solicitor to British athlete Bianca Williams and her partner. The officers had claimed to have smelled cannabis in the athletes’ car during a stop-and-search in July 2020. Williams and her partner, Portuguese Olympic sprinter Ricardo dos Santos, said they were racially profiled when they were searched outside their home, but no drugs or weapons were found.
A disciplinary panel found that the officers had lied and committed gross misconduct, and ordered their dismissal. A person identified only as “UK” launched a crowdfunding page to support the officers, attracting comments denouncing the dismissal as “disgraceful” and labelling the misconduct hearing as “unjust”. The page had the backing of a “significant number” of people purporting to be serving officers, Carey said.
The solicitor warned that the messages posted on the page highlighted the extent of the problem of unaccountable behaviour within the Met, and called for the Commissioner to publicly back the panel’s decision if public confidence in the police was to be restored in London. Carey also criticised the appeal, saying it raised questions about the acceptable standard of behaviour by police officers towards the public, particularly black people, and would do further damage to the reputation of the police.
Earlier this year, Williams won bronze in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Championships, while Dos Santos competed in the 400m at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward apologised to Williams and Dos Santos at the time and said he was “confident” the force could “learn from the experience” and work with communities to deliver effective stop-and-search for all Londoners. Three other officers were cleared of any wrongdoing in the same incident
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