The Metropolitan Police's culture of racial harm is deeply ingrained and 'institutionally defended', according to an internal review. The report, authored by Dr. Shereen Daniels, highlights how the force's leadership and culture protect it from real change, making racial harm 'inevitable'. The review, titled '30 Patterns Of Harm', focuses on the institution itself rather than individual scandals. It reveals that anti-black outcomes in policing are not random but built-in, named by families in grief, frontline officers, unions, activists, whistleblowers, and formal investigations. The key flashpoint of stop and search is highlighted, with the Met causing pain in black communities and treating 'blackness itself as probable cause'. Force and coercive tactics are more likely to be used against black people than white people. The report criticizes the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, for refusing to use the term 'institutional racism', claiming it is political and unclear. The commissioner has pledged wholesale reform, but the National Black Police Association argues that he is a block on change. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, oversees the Met and has called for a reframing of the approach to accelerate cultural reform and deliver structural change. The report comes two years after the Met was found to be institutionally racist by Louise Casey's inquiry, and the commissioner refused to accept the findings. The Met has responded by accepting long-standing evidence of racism and discrimination within Britain's biggest force.
