A history of the present

 [From the London Socialist Historians Group Newsletter 75 Spring 2022]

The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel: A history of the present 

With the government proposing draconian new legislation in its Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill, it might be worth looking at an incident in the history of the Metropolitan Police, which is one of the forces charged with carrying out its provisions. Last year, The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel appeared that charged the Metropolitan Police with "Institutional Corruption". Since then the silence has been deafening. The report has been buried. Below are some direct quotations from the The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel: 

It is now more than three decades since Daniel Morgan was murdered with axe blows to the head in a dark car park behind a public house in Sydenham, South East London, on 10 March 1987. An investigation began that would prove to be the first of several murder investigations and other police operations arising from, or linked to the murder, or those associated with it, none of which has succeeded in bringing to justice the person or persons responsible for Daniel Morgan’s murder.

 Allegations of police corruption arose soon after the murder, and the case became notorious because of this. When successive investigations failed to identify the perpetrator(s) of the murder or expose the role of police corruption in the murder or the murder investigations, the family of Daniel Morgan, frustrated by the lack of progress, mounted a formidable campaign. In 2013, the Home Secretary appointed the Independent Panel to conduct ‘a full and effective review of corruption as it affected the handling of this case and of the treatment of the family by the police and other parts of the criminal justice system’. 

In 2011, the Metropolitan Police stated that ‘[t]he MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] has accepted that police corruption in the original investigation was a significant factor in this failure’. When asked for specific details of what that corruption was which prevented those responsible from being brought to justice, how and when this corruption had been investigated and what they were doing to prevent such corruption occurring again, no clear answer emerged. 

The Metropolitan Police have not been able to explain what it meant by its various statements about individual police corruption adversely affecting the investigation of Daniel Morgan’s murder. This is an extraordinary situation, given that the concerns about police corruption have been the strongest concern (other than the identification of the murderer(s) of Daniel Morgan) of the members of his family and others, and have created enormous public interest in this case. 

When failings in police investigations are combined with unjustified reassurances rather than candour on the part of the Metropolitan Police, this may constitute institutional corruption. The Metropolitan Police’s culture of obfuscation and a lack of candour is unhealthy in any public service. Concealing or denying failings, for the sake of the organisation’s public image, is dishonesty on the part of the organisation for reputational benefit. In the Panel’s view, this constitutes a form of institutional corruption. 

Lack of candour about past failures is not conducive to better policing, especially when those failures include corruption. There is a risk that, if a police force does not acknowledge corruption and combat it promptly and robustly, some officers may believe they can behave corruptly without consequences. With regard to the murder of Daniel Morgan and its investigation, placing the reputation of the organisation above the need for accountability and transparency did not prevent further corrupt behaviour. 

The historical intelligence examined does not reflect a ‘rotten apple’ model of corruption. It is indicative of systemic failings, including the existence of a corrupt culture.

The family of Daniel Morgan suffered grievously as a consequence of the failure to bring his murderer(s) to justice, the misinformation which was put into the public domain, and the denial of failings in investigation, including failures to acknowledge professional incompetence, individuals’ venal behaviour, and managerial and organisational failings. Unwarranted assurances were given to the family, and the Metropolitan Police placed the reputation of the organisation above the need for accountability and transparency. The lack of candour and the repeated failure to take a fresh, thorough and critical look at past failings are all symptoms of institutional corruption, which prioritises institutional reputation over public accountability. 

There has been a failure over decades to tackle police corruption effectively and to resource anti-corruption work properly. There is evidence that, despite efforts over many years, a culture still exists that inhibits both organisational and individual accountability