The London police force did not learn enough from its mistakes in the 2016 serial killer case, which led to the failure to prevent similar crimes from happening again, according to a critical report by a police watchdog on Thursday (27)
The report evaluated the case of Stephen Port, a serial killer who was convicted of murdering four men he had met on dating websites between 2014 and 2015.
Despite the obvious similarities in the deaths, the police force failed to recognize the connection until it was too late.
The report highlighted several issues such as inadequate crime analysis processes, poor training and supervision, and unacceptable record keeping that require immediate attention and a complete overhaul.
London's Metropolitan Police Service, known as The Met, said it would fully consider the recommendations.
"We are sincere in our desire to make real change to minimise the chance of a case like this ever happening again," Met Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said.
The force, which was found by an independent review last month to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic, was put in a special monitoring and improvement programme by the police watchdog last year over its handling of a string of high profile cases.
"The Met has still not learned enough from the calamitous litany of failures in that (Port) case," Inspector of the Constabulary Matt Parr said.
"Issues with the Met’s culture and officers’ behaviour have been widely recognised. However, the Met’s problems with competence and professionalism run even deeper: too often, they don’t get the basics right. Our inspection has shown that history could repeat itself," he added.
The report said despite some improvements made since the case, police officers at the Met acknowledged they still rely on luck to identify links between deaths at a local level.
Its recommendations included increasing the use of intelligence officers responding to deaths.
(Reuters)
