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BBC London Home affairs correspondent
BBCWarning: This article incorporates language some readers would possibly to find offensive
A former 999 call-handler has accused the Met Police of breaking its promise to hear whistleblowers, after a colleague she reported used to be sacked however then given again his task.
Izzy Vine is suing the pressure, claiming optimistic dismissal, after a fellow call-handler made a chain of feedback, together with describing a rape sufferer as a “slut”. The body of workers member used to be sacked for gross misconduct in November 2023 however reinstated on attraction.
Ms Vine mentioned bosses instructed her the unique disciplinary panel were too closely influenced via the Casey Review, which discovered the Met to be institutionally misogynist, racist and homophobic.
The Met mentioned the “discriminatory comments” were “entirely unacceptable” however added that the result of the misconduct procedure were “subject to a thorough review”.
Ms Vine, from Wimbledon in south-west London, has written an open letter to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, accusing the pressure of “box-ticking” with its inner campaigns, and critical “meaningful change”.
She mentioned she were “shocked” when her colleague made a chain of feedback right through a shift in April 2023.
Ms Vine mentioned the primary of those took place as he took a file from a girl alleging she were raped, and he had coated his mouth together with his hand and instructed Ms Vine: “She sounds like a slut.”
Ms Vine additionally mentioned he later instructed her he had taken a choice from an “immigrant”, and confirmed her his telephone, the place he had written, the usage of an expletive: “Why don’t you [go] back to your own country?”
‘I used to be in point of fact at a loss for words’
Ms Vine additionally reported that he had referred to the Clapham house as “Sarah Everard turf”.
Ms Everard used to be abducted via Met Police officer Wayne Couzens close to Clapham Common in March 2021, sooner than he raped and murdered her.
Ms Vine instructed BBC London she were specifically surprised via her colleague’s feedback as a result of they got here only a month after the e-newsletter of Baroness Casey’s file, and consequent guarantees from the Met that the pressure would root out poisonous behaviour.
She mentioned: “It was on the front page of our computers when we logged on: the response from Mark Rowley on the Casey Review, the Casey Review itself, the violence against women and girls campaign.
“We have been highlighting on the time how we wish to stamp out misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia.”
Family handoutShe said she was so taken aback by her colleague’s “self belief” in making the comments, that initially she wondered whether it was some kind of internal test, to check if other police staff would do anything about it.
Ms Vine said she had made a complaint the following day and although the staff member was investigated and sacked for gross misconduct, she was later told that he had won an appeal. She said she was told he would instead receive a written warning, because it would be “too harsh” for him to lose his job.
She said: “I used to be in surprise, I used to be in point of fact at a loss for words. I had these kind of questions. ‘Is he coming again right here? Did you now not imagine me?’
“I honestly could not understand it. It didn’t make sense from everything they’d said in the investigation, everything the Met says about what they are stamping out, what they don’t want to tolerate any more.”
‘Root out rogue officials’
Ms Vine mentioned his reinstatement had left her “outraged and upset”.
“Everything I signed up to be and wanted to be was shattered,” she mentioned. “It left me feeling like a fraud, because I had to go back to work and, well, I’m not pretending, but I’m representing a force that’s pretending to be caring about things like hate crimes, misogyny, sexism, racism, all these things.”
Ms Vine lodged a criticism in opposition to the Met Police, however resigned in December after pronouncing she felt not able to hold on – and that she used to be involved she would possibly need to paintings along the person in long run.
She is looking for damages for optimistic dismissal, sexual harassment, whistleblowing detriment and a failure to make cheap changes.
PA Media“I joined wanting to change and make the force better, and I was silly in thinking I could do that,” she mentioned. “I tried, I failed, so I left, and I’m going to try this way.
“They at all times say exchange begins from the interior. It in point of fact does not. You cannot get any exchange made, you are now not listened to or heard in a provider like that.”
Sir Mark has promised to “root out rogue officials”, and improve leadership and training to tackle unacceptable behaviour.
An internal hotline, run by Crimestoppers, was created to encourage whistleblowers to report concerns, and Sir Mark has previously said that more are coming forward because they feel supported by bosses.
‘I may not be a scapegoat’
Ms Vine – who told BBC London that the date for her hearing was set for January 2027 – said her experience meant she no longer trusted the force.
“Yes, Mark Rowley can say it’s a must to take whistleblowers critically and pay attention to them and improve them. I had none of that,” she mentioned.
“All those silly guarantees coming from the highest, they only by no means trickle down into the folks at the floor who’re in reality doing the task and the paintings.”
Ms Vine said she had been criticised by some officers and other Met staff for speaking publicly about her case, in case it put off victims from coming forward.
“That’s now not my fault,” she said. “I may not be a scapegoat for other people’s mistrust within the police, I may not be a reason other people do not believe the police. That’s the police’s fault.”
In a statement, Met Police Cdr Jason Prins said: “These discriminatory feedback have been solely unacceptable, which is why this topic used to be delivered to a misconduct listening to.
“We take the former staff member’s concerns about the outcome of the misconduct process extremely seriously and it has been subject to a thorough review.”
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