Mayor Boris Johnson plans to set up a new ethics committee at City Hall to deal with complaints about the Metropolitan police. It would investigate future allegations of misconduct by officers in an attempt to increase public trust after a string of scandals.
Scotland Yard has been rocked by revelations about undercover officers having relationships with women activists and using the identities of dead children. The Met has also been accused of looking for “dirt” on the family of Stephen Lawrence.
Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, was appearing before MPs on the home affairs committee today. Mr Johnson told the committee the public would be reassured that a body outside the Met would examine areas of concern. “In the end we’re talking about public confidence policing,” he said.
City Hall officials said that plans for the ethics panel, which would be set up within the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, were at an early stage.
However, sources close to the Mayor revealed he had asked Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor to look at how a London standards body might work, during the inspector’s investigation into undercover policing.
The Standard understands that the body would be led by a senior legal figure chairing a panel which could be made up of London Assembly members, officials from the Office for Policing and Crime, and lawyers. Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe is understood to be supportive of the plans.
