Rarely Praised, Often Criticised: Charing Cross Investigation Shows The IOPC At Its Best

Fifteen officers have committed gross misconduct, 14 have been barred from policing and another 15 officers or staff remain under investigation following one of the police watchdog’s largest-ever investigations.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is accustomed to criticism.

Members of the public frequently accuse the police watchdog of taking too long, failing to secure accountability or being too close to the forces it investigates.

Police officers, the Police Federation and other staff associations have criticised it from the opposite direction, while criticism has also come from within policing at its very highest levels.

It can sometimes appear to be an organisation criticised from every direction and thanked by almost no one.

But the IOPC-led investigation into officers and staff connected with Charing Cross police station demonstrates why its work matters—and why effective investigations deserve recognition when they deliver substantial results.

Fifteen officers have now been found to have committed gross misconduct as part of the investigation.

Fourteen have been barred from policing, including three officers who held supervisory positions as sergeants.

Investigations remain ongoing into the conduct of a further 15 police officers or members of staff.

The operation is one of the largest investigations ever undertaken by the IOPC in terms of the number of officers involved.

Investigation went beyond BBC footage

Allegations concerning officers based at Charing Cross first attracted widespread attention following a BBC Panorama documentary broadcast in October.

It would have been easy for the investigation to concentrate solely on the conduct already exposed on national television.

Instead, a dedicated team of IOPC investigators examined a significant amount of additional footage supplied by the BBC, including material which had not appeared in the documentary.

The watchdog also launched a witness appeal which resulted in further allegations being reported by members of the public and people who had worked at Charing Cross police station.

Investigators followed that additional evidence and identified potential misconduct involving more officers and staff.

The investigation has now encompassed 30 police officers and members of staff. Fifteen officers have faced accelerated misconduct proceedings, with all but one barred from policing.

Eight active investigations remain underway, including two involving officers who are under criminal investigation.

One concerns allegations that officers attempted to pervert the course of justice, while another relates to the alleged use of excessive force.

The IOPC recently completed a separate criminal investigation into a third officer over suspected attempts to pervert the course of justice. It decided not to refer that matter to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision.

That officer had already been dismissed and placed on the police barred list over discriminatory and Islamophobic comments uncovered during the wider Charing Cross investigation.

All but one of the further 15 officers or staff under investigation—a British Transport Police constable—work for the Metropolitan Police.

Further disciplinary proceedings are expected as the remaining investigations progress.

One of the IOPC’s largest investigations

IOPC Director of Engagement Amanda Rowe said the organisation had been “extremely concerned and appalled” by the conduct exposed in the BBC documentary, particularly because of an earlier investigation into similar allegations at the same police station.

She said investigators had subsequently worked through significant amounts of additional footage and new information received following appeals to ensure that the investigation was “as thorough and robust as possible”.

Ms Rowe added: “This is one of our largest ever investigations in terms of the number of officers investigated, and the sheer number of fast-tracked disciplinary proceedings show how seriously the IOPC and the Met, who held the misconduct hearings, are treating this matter.”

Those results deserve to be considered in their proper context.

This has not been an investigation which ended with a report, a collection of recommendations and a familiar promise that lessons would be learned.

Investigators pursued evidence beyond the material already in the public domain. They examined previously unseen footage, appealed for witnesses, considered new allegations and identified further individuals whose conduct required investigation.

The work has produced measurable consequences: findings of gross misconduct, dismissals and officers being prevented from serving in policing again.

A thankless but essential task

Scrutiny of the IOPC remains important.

No public body should be immune from criticism, particularly one responsible for investigating those entrusted with significant powers over the public.

The watchdog should be challenged when investigations are unnecessarily prolonged, when its communication is poor or when its decisions appear incapable of commanding public confidence.

But scrutiny must also be fair.

When an investigation follows the evidence beyond the original allegations, brings forward new witnesses, identifies further misconduct and results in officers being dismissed and barred from policing, that work deserves to be acknowledged.

The Charing Cross investigation has demonstrated that a police misconduct investigation does not have to begin and end with the evidence already exposed by journalists.

It has required investigators to examine extensive material, assess new allegations and pursue cases involving dozens of officers and members of staff.

The IOPC often performs a thankless task. Whatever conclusion it reaches is liable to be condemned by one side or another, while the painstaking work behind a successful investigation is rarely seen or publicly recognised.

There remain serious questions for the Metropolitan Police about how such behaviour was allowed to develop at Charing Cross, particularly after earlier warnings about the culture at the station.

There is also considerable work still to be completed before the investigation can be judged in its entirety.

Nevertheless, 15 gross misconduct findings, 14 officers barred from policing and continuing investigations into another 15 officers and staff represent a significant body of work.

The IOPC is frequently and loudly criticised when people believe it has failed. Those criticisms come from the public, the Police Federation, other staff associations and from within policing at its very highest levels—and they are not always without foundation.

But accountability should work both ways.

We now look forward to hearing whether those who are usually first in line to berate the watchdog will be equally vocal in recognising the scale, persistence and results of its Charing Cross investigation.

That includes the most senior figures in policing and the organisations which represent rank-and-file officers.

After 15 gross misconduct findings, 14 officers barred and another 15 officers or staff under investigation, their silence would be noticeable.

Criticism of the IOPC is rarely difficult to find. Let us see whether credit is quite so readily given when it is due.