Met Police name social welfare expert to head independent review of culture & standards after Everard murder

Social welfare expert Baroness Louise Casey has been named lead of the Met Police review of its culture and standards as the force attempts to rebuild public trust in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder by a serving officer.

On Friday, London’s Metropolitan Police announced that Baroness Casey of Blackstock would lead the independent review into the force. Commissioner Cressida Dick had said on Monday that a review would take place. 

In a statement on Friday, the commissioner said that Casey's appointment would ensure that the right questions are asked during the review and help improve “our service to London and public confidence in us.” 

Casey said that she was grateful for the opportunity to lead the review and reiterated the police’s need to be able to undertake their work with the public’s trust and consent.

“This will no doubt be a difficult task, but we owe it to the victims and families this has affected and the countless decent police officers this has brought into disrepute,” she stated.

Casey is an independent adviser for social welfare and Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. She has contributed to issues relating to social welfare for five prime ministers over the last 23 years, and has worked on various reports, including a review of community cohesion and extremism for then-PM David Cameron.

Dick announced a review into the capital’s police force after former firearms officer Wayne Couzens was given a whole life sentence last week having been found guilty of the false arrest, abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March. He carried out the crimes while a serving member of the force.

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