APPENDIX 11
Memorandum submitted by Sir John Stevens,
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
Thank you for your letter dated 11 December
2000 requesting information on the role of the Metropolitan Police
Service (MPS) in combating corruption in developing countries
and details of any investigations into corruption carried out
by the MPS in developing countries.
It may be helpful if I first set out the role
of the MPS in combating corruption. In 1994, the Service initiated
its current anti-corruption campaign by undertaking a long-term
intelligence gathering exercise to strategically scope the extent
to which police corruption was undermining MPS operations. This
exercise, codenamed operation "Othona", concluded in
December 1997 when, as you may recall, the then Commissioner,
Sir Paul Condon, publicly acknowledged that there were a number
of corrupt officers within the ranks of the MPS and announced
the launch of the Met's Anti-corruption campaign,
The first element of the campaign was the introduction,
in January 1998, of the Met's Anti-Corruption Squad—C1B3
(now called Internal Investigations Command). Since January 1998
the Internal Investigations Command have been undertaking intelligence-led
anti-corruption operations targeting corrupt members of MPS and
staff and those who corrupt them. The has been accompanied by
a developing organisational anti-corruption strategy—The
MPS Corruption and Dishonesty Prevent Strategy. The strategy is
a pervasive and innovative strategy designed to detect, deter
and ultimately prevent corruption within the MPS.
The strategy and the advanced investigation
methods developed by the MPS in tackling corruption have won acclaim
around the world and the MPS is now widely regarded as one of
the world's leading anti-corruption agencies. This view is reinforced
by the number of delegations from around the world who come to
London to examine the Met's strategic response to corruption and
its advanced anti-corruption operational methodology. The MPS
is a member of the "Interpol—International Group of
Experts on Corruption". Through this group the MPS is working
with anti-corruption agencies from other countries including,
United States, of America, Holland, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia
and South Africa in developing an "Anti-Corruption Manual
of Best Practice" and a generic anti-corruption strategy
for law enforcement agencies around the world. It is hope that
these products will be published on the Internet during the course
of 2001. The Interpol group is supplemented by representatives
from the OECD. UN, Transparency International and anti-corruption
practitioners from the private sector.
It is under the auspices of the MPS's membership
of this group that I was invited to speak on the issue of police
corruption at the 9th International Anti-Corruption Conference
in Durban, South Africa in October 1999.
Senior representatives of the MPS are now regularly
invited to speak on the issue of corruption, and specifically
police corruption, to audiences around the world, the most recent
event being the "1st Symposium on Corruption" hosted
by ICAC Hong Kong in November 2000.
However, it is important to make clear the expertise
of the MPS lies in tackling police corruption. The MPS has, I
believe, led in the UK by being the first large organisation or
institution to proactively expose and tackle internal corruption
by employing quite intrusive methods. This may be justified by
the acceptance that police services are uniquely vulnerable to
corruption consequent of the role of police officers and that
corruption is an insidious activity that rarely surfaces by way
of public complaint. Although as a "by-product" of investigating
police corruption, corruption has been uncovered by the MPS in
other areas of public life and in the commercial sector, the principal
task of the MPS campaign is to ensure that the MPS is the most
honest and ethical police service in the world. Accordingly the
MPS does not have a "proactive" role in the investigation
of corruption beyond the organisation itself unless this is to
target those who are suspected of corrupting our staff. The Service
will however, respond to any allegation of corruption made by
a member of the public or organisation.
The MPS does not conduct corruption investigations
in developing countries, although technically it could, subject
to FCO approval provide some level of advice or assistance upon
request from another sovereign state. The role of the MPS in fighting
corruption abroad is currently confined to its role within the
Interpol group and participation in anti-corruption seminars on
the world stage.
Sir John Stevens
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
January 2001
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