Important note: This is an archive of the website that was formerly at www.morrisinquiry.gov.uk. It is being hosted on the MPA website for archival purposes only and may contain out-of-date information.

This resource is from the final Report of the Morris Inquiry. This section contains the Chair's foreword to the report.

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• Chair's foreword

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Chair's foreword

Len Duvall AM
Chair
The Metropolitan Police Authority
10 Dean Farrar Street
London
SW1H 0NY

14th December 2004

A year ago, your Authority asked me to chair an independent inquiry into professional standards and employment matters in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

Joining me on the Inquiry were Sir Anthony Burden, who had recently retired as Chief Constable of South Wales Police Service after a long and distinguished career in the police service, and Anesta Weekes QC, who is an eminent barrister and who sits as a Recorder and part-time Chair of Employment Tribunals.

All three of us believe that we have been given a unique opportunity to make a lasting contribution to policing in London, and we have been very much aware of the high level of expectations held by our stakeholders and wider contributors.

We recognise the vital role that the MPS plays in the life of London; it is the largest police service in the country and the shop window of law enforcement agencies in the UK.

As the frontier of crime expands with the rise of global terrorism and the changing social and demographic profile of London, it is inevitable that the social cohesion between police and citizens will be subject to some stress and much tension. But despite that, let us pause to remember that scores of police officers daily put themselves in harm’s way in the defence of the nation’s security.

The Inquiry was commissioned by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), but the Members of the Inquiry, its Secretary and its Solicitors are all independent of the MPA, the MPS and all the other organisations and individuals who contributed to the inquiry process.

We launched the Inquiry on 21st January 2004 and spent 6 months gathering evidence. We received over 1,400 documents and heard oral evidence from 109 people over 31 days. We visited other police services across the country and held a forum for 40 MPS women officers and staff.

We examined the way the Service handles complaints, grievances, allegations against individuals and conflict within the workplace. Our focus was the MPS as an organisation and not the individuals who make up that organisation. In our approach we were determined not to indulge in a culture of blame, yet we would be fearless in challenging what we thought was wrong.

In hearing evidence we made it clear that we wanted to hear what was good about the MPS as well as what was wrong, and we sought suggestions for improvement. To that end, our approach was inquisitorial and not adversarial.

We were not appointed to make findings of guilt or innocence against particular individuals nor to revisit the past or to dwell on what may be past failings. When we examined the actions of individuals it was to identify problems with, or defects in, the procedures or processes that the MPS has in place. Our aim was to find ways in which they might be improved for the future.

There was a common misapprehension that our Inquiry was about race. We have considered discrimination issues as part of our work, and some of our recommendations focus on the way in which black and ethnic minority officers and staff are treated and managed. We hope that our recommendations will help the MPS manage difference in its widest sense.

Whilst we can see much which is good about the MPS, we are nonetheless extremely concerned by the lack of direct accountability at senior levels within the organisation; it appears to us that there is no sanction for getting it badly wrong irrespective of the consequences to the organisation or to those on the receiving end.

We believe that workplace relationships are the key to good policing and that the community will benefit from a Service that is well motivated and better trained.

My colleagues and I have spent nearly a year on this Inquiry. We are grateful to all those who have contributed to our work and for the evidence we received. We saw many individuals who were proud to work for the MPS and committed to keeping London and Londoners safe. Much of this report consists of what they told us; their voices resonate throughout the pages, and they deserve to be heard.

Our work is now finished, and it will be for others to decide what action to take on our recommendations. However, we hope that our report can make a positive contribution to improving professional standards and workplace relationships and, by extension, the quality of policing in London.

It was a privilege to serve for which we thank our commissioning body, the MPA.

Yours sincerely

Sir William Morris
Chair of the Inquiry