“It is not our job as the public to keep ourselves safe from the police. It is the police’s job to keep us safe as the public,” said Louise Casey, an expert on victims’ rights and social welfare who led the review. “Far too many Londoners have now lost faith in policing to do that.”

The findings ratchet up the pressure for a major overhaul of the Metropolitan Police after a series of scandals involving its treatment of women and minorities. In a preliminary report released in October, Casey found that the department had failed to properly vet and train officers, and had allowed officers to remain on the job even after they were accused of domestic abuse or racial harassment.

According to the study, organizational changes at MET put women and children at greater risk; it also denounced that women experience continuous episodes of sexism, racism and a “deeply-rooted homophobia”.

The Casey review was commissioned after a serving officer raped and killed Sarah Everard, a young marketing executive as she walked home from a friend’s house in March 2021, prompting a national outcry as women shared their experiences of being threatened or attacked when walking alone.

The Met was also accused of homophobia over its failure to stop serial killer Stephen Port, who murdered four young men over a 15-month period in 2014 and 2015.

Casey’s review found that the department hasn’t treated violence against women and girls as seriously as other forms of violence.

The 363-page report also painted an alarming picture of how crimes against women and children are investigated due to a shortage of funding and a lack of specialized officers trained to handle these cases.

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