All forces must check officers against police database, says Home Office

All police forces will be asked to check staff against national databases to identify if anyone “slipped through the net”, the Home Office says.

It follows the David Carrick rape case, the Met Police officer who admitted to sexual offences across two decades.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) will ask forces to check current staff recruited before tougher vetting of new recruits was introduced.

The College of Policing will also be asked to strengthen vetting procedures.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a statement: “David Carrick’s sickening crimes are a stain on the police and he should never have been allowed to remain as an officer for so long.

“We are taking immediate steps to ensure predatory individuals are not only rooted out of the force, but that vetting and standards are strengthened to ensure they cannot join the police in the first place.”

The NPCC, who works with police forces on staffing, says the check will help identify “anyone who has slipped through the net”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Rishi Sunak told MPs that Carrick’s crimes were a “truly sickening” abuse of power and pledged police reforms so offenders would have “no place to hide”.

He said: “The police must address the failings in this case, restore public confidence and ensure the safety of women and girls.

“There will be no place to hide for those who use their position to intimidate those women and girls, or those who have failed to act to reprimand or remove those people from office.”