IOPC statement following PC David Carrick's guilty pleas

17 Jan 2023 10:41 PM

IOPC regional director Sal Naseem makes a statement following PC David Carrick's guilty pleas

IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said:
“Our thoughts are with the many women who were victims of PC David Carrick’s shocking offending and we acknowledge their tremendous courage in reporting this offending to the police. The catalogue, breadth and depth of his offending and the impact on all of the women affected cannot be underestimated.

“The conduct of PC Carrick was first referred to us in July 2021, by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) after it was advised by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit (BCH) that Carrick was being investigated for an allegation of rape and coercive behaviour of a former partner. We decided that the Major Crime Unit should continue with that investigation as it provided a level of independence.

“Since Carrick’s arrest and subsequent charge in October 2021, we received 22 further referrals from the MPS relating to his conduct, as more allegations and charges were laid against him. We decided that BCH should continue to investigate those matters.

“After David Carrick’s arrest in October 2021, the MPS notified us of concerns regarding its handling of allegations of assault and harassment made against him in 2002. Those allegations were dealt with by way of words of advice for Carrick from the MPS investigating officers and DPS was never informed. We identified that the two officers’ handling of those allegations could amount to misconduct.  However, given the officers have retired and cannot now face sanction at misconduct level, we decided to take no further action.

“Given concerns over the depth and breadth of Carrick’s offending, last year we wrote to all forces who had potentially previously come into contact with Carrick requesting they review those contacts to identify whether there were any failures to investigate or prosecute him and to seek assurance that any conduct issues identified would be referred to the IOPC. All forces have since confirmed those reviews are complete and there are no issues which meet criteria for a referral to the IOPC.

“We also received information from the MPS, identified in its review, relating to three other incidents in 2004, 2019 and 2021 involving allegations against Carrick. From the information we’ve been provided with so far, we have had no cause to consider using our power of initiative to call these matters in. We can only use this power when a complaint, conduct or death or serious injury matter comes to our attention but has not been recorded and referred by the force.

“In accordance with the statutory scheme which defines our remit and powers, we will consider whether the IOPC is the appropriate body to carry out any further work to review how matters relating to PC Carrick were handled by police forces. However, We welcomed the Home Secretary’s announcement yesterday that Dame Elish Angiolini will be considering matters relating to Carrick as part of her review into former MPS officer Wayne Couzens and what failures in the systems and processes for police vetting, complaints and misconduct allowed him to remain as a police officer. We will share the information around the MPS’ handling of the 2002 allegationsinvolving Carrick with the Angiolini inquiry so it can be reviewed appropriately.”