Baroness Louise Casey does not mince her words: "It's organisational, it's institutional, it's systemic... If you don't own the size of your problem and the truth of your problem you can't change." (Is This the Last Chance for the Met Police? - BBC Newsnight)
We have known this to be the case for a very long time. While a re-articulation and clear data picture of the breadth and depth of the systemic and institutionalised racism, misogyny and homophobia are welcome, let's not forget the many people, projects and reports that have evidenced institutional racism and safeguarding failings in policing and criminal justice systems before the Casey Review.
But how do you bring about wholesale change? What happens next? How do we reinstate a service that is fit for purpose and can be trusted? Based on their lived experience, girls and young women we support don't feel safe going to the police - they don't think they will be kept safe and they don't think they will be believed.
We know it's not just one 'bad apple' and the Met as an institution doesn't exist in a silo. A rebrand of the force will not cut it.
Policing and political leaders MUST own and name the problem, then rebuild 'bottom up', bringing people and communities along with them to create a service that serves and keeps all members of our community safe.
