I can understand why women don't trust the police, says Met chief on Sarah Everard anniversary

The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has said he understands why some women still do not trust the force, in an interview to mark the fifth anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard.

Sir Mark Rowley said "several ghastly cases of police officers committing awful offences against women" were bound to affect people's trust in the UK's biggest police force.

He insisted more women were reporting allegations to the police, but said rebuilding trust in London would take time.

"I can give the reassurance that we're doing everything possible to avoid people who are a risk to anybody - women and children or otherwise - joining the organisation or staying in this organisation," he said.

Sir Mark told the BBC that 1,500 people had been "rooted out" since 2022 and were no longer working for the force, including many because of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

However, some women's charities said trust in policing remained in crisis.

Five years ago, Everard was walking home in south London when she was abducted by Wayne Couzens, who was then a serving police officer. He drove her to Kent where he raped and killed her. Couzens was later sentenced to a whole-life term for her murder.

Sir Mark became Met commissioner in September 2022, replacing Dame Cressida Dick, who resigned following a series of damaging controversies, including the Everard murder.

"We've got lots of evidence that we've rooted out a lot of the problem from the organisation," he said. "That's why 1,500 people have been forced out.

"We haven't got to the point where every woman is going to say 'I completely, without question, trust the Met police'. This [was] a horrific incident, of course that's going to live longer in memory. And what I'm seeking to do is say I can see that we're making progress, and people are noticing that. But they should expect more of us."

According to data published by the force, 28 members of staff were dismissed for sexual misconduct in 2024-25, while another 39 officers would have been sacked in the same year if they had not resigned or retired.

In 2023, two years after the Everard murder, Baroness Casey's review of the Met revealed institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia. It found hundreds of officers with misconduct allegations, including sexual offences, had not been dismissed.

As recently as Friday, a Met police officer was sacked after a disciplinary panel found he had subjected a colleague to controlling behaviour, committed serious sexual misconduct and attempted to interfere with a police investigation.

"No one is ever going to be in a situation to say that an organisation of 40,000 people is perfect," said Sir Mark. "But what I can say is that we're as determined as possible to guard and preserve our integrity, whether it's the front door when people come in, whether it's the routine revetting, whether it's how seriously we take allegations that are made when people are in the organisation."

An internal review by the force, published in January, found the Met had lowered vetting standards into the backgrounds of prospective and existing police officers and staff between 2013 and 2023.

The report found 5,073 officers and staff had not been properly vetted and the Met estimated about 1,200 applicants may have been turned down under normal vetting practices.

Separately, 17,355 officers and staff did not have their references properly checked, if at all, between 2018 and April 2022.

Some women's charities are not convinced the force is doing enough to earn back trust, citing examples of female complainants not being listened to properly.

Gemma Sherrington, chief executive of Refuge, said women and girls' confidence in policing "remains at crisis point" and called for "meaningful, lasting change".

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women's Aid, said there needed to be a change of attitude towards women among officers in the force.

She cited a report, published in January last year, by the independent domestic abuse commissioner that found only 4% of police officers who perpetrate violence against women and girls crimes were being dismissed.

"I think there is a crisis of confidence in terms of women and girls and feeling confident and able to report to the police," said Nazeer. "I think that is still ongoing and I think a lot more will need to be seen and lived and experienced for that to change, because the only way you really transform a crisis of confidence is for people to experience a difference on the ground."

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and for the violence against women and girls, said she was willing to "do everything I can to ensure women and girls can live free from fear and harm - something Sarah was so cruelly denied".

She said: "This government is committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. Our recently published Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy sets out how we will achieve this, and a new £13.1m national centre will strengthen the police response to these crimes.

"But we know more needs to be done, and we will not stop until we prevent tragedies like this from happening again."