Evening Standard, on UK Politics, 3 November 2026

3.0out of 10Minor

Nearly 200 Met Police officers barred from service in the past year

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A record-breaking number of police officers were barred from police forces last year – with almost 200 officers banned from the Met Police . In total, 757 officers from services across England and Wales were barred in the year up until March 2026, which is the highest figure since records began in 2017. This was an increase of 22 people over the previous year. The Met Police, which is the UK ’s biggest force with over 31,000 officers, had the highest number of officers added to the official barred list (195), followed by Greater Manchester Police and West Midlands Police.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley goes (PA) PA Wire In the previous period, up until the end of March 2025, 183 officers were prohibited from serving in the Met Police. , including sexual offences and unlawful access of information. The most common reason an officer was blocked from practicing a police officer was dishonesty, with 142 cases, followed by discriminatory behaviour in 110 cases.

There were 87 cases involving sexual offences or sexual misconduct, including six involving child sexual abuse, five involving rape and 46 involving abuse of position for a sexual purpose. Assistant Chief Constable Arman Mathieson, director of operational standards at the College of Policing , said: “Policing is built on trust and these figures show we will not hesitate to act when that trust is broken. “757 officers have been removed and barred from ever serving again, including those who retired or resigned while under investigation.

“This represents 0.5% of all serving officers, with the vast majority of officers serving with courage, professionalism and integrity. “We all deserve a service that roots out those who fall short. Where standards are breached, we will find out and we will act.” In the year to March 2026, 111 officers and special constables added to the barred list were from a Black or other minority ethnic background, out of 782 cases where ethnicity was recorded.

Among police staff, the equivalent figure was 54 out of 348. The data showed that among those added to the list, 671 officers and specials were white, along with 294 staff. The Met Police declined to comment.

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What we found (1)

The Evening Standard reports College of Policing figures showing a record 757 officers barred in England and Wales in the year to March 2026, 195 of them from the Met. It gives the period, the base and the comparison year for its figures. One sentence in its own voice says officers were "fired", when the quoted source says the list also includes officers who retired or resigned while under investigation.

  1. Imprecise word for how officers left

    Minor

    “Officers across police the country were fired for multiple reasons”

    Why this matters
    In its own voice the Standard says the barred officers "were fired".
    The impression it gives
    A reader takes every officer on the list to have been dismissed by their force.
    The context
    The College of Policing, quoted in the same article, says the 757 include officers who retired or resigned while under investigation. Those officers were barred, not fired. The gap does not change the main point of the story.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“including those who retired or resigned while under investigation”

    Show it in the article

What it gets right

  • “which is the UK ’s biggest force with over 31,000 officers”

    It gives the size of the Met next to its count of 195, so a reader can judge the figure against the force's size and not read it as a raw total alone.

  • “in the year up until March 2026, which is the highest figure since records began in 2017”

    It states the exact period and how far back the records go, which backs its "record-breaking" claim with a clear base.

  • “In the previous period, up until the end of March 2025, 183 officers were prohibited from serving in the Met Police.”

    It gives the previous year's Met figure, so the reader sees a modest rise and not an unexplained jump.

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