there is no financial incentive that I'm aware of
The Casey Review found some interesting ways that firearms officers in the Met have been lining their pockets:
Colouring outside the lines’ in MO19 covers a catalogue of poor behaviours. Officers
and staff told us that the Command does not make sensible or considered financial
decisions. It allows officers to ‘game the system’ financially, with some earning up to
significant amounts through overtime shifts. Officers are allowed to work the
overtime system to top up their salaries, and financially rely on doing so.
We were told of well-known overtime ‘rackets,’ such as shifts for major events like
Notting Hill Carnival and New Year’s Eve being filled by officers on overtime, rather
than being scheduled as part of regular shift patterns, even though the dates are
known well in advance.
We were told that senior leaders had endorsed this, or looked the other way, while a
model developed where officers could work overtime when it was convenient to
them, and refuse it when it was not.
We were told that hotels, usually used to accommodate officers asked to work extra
shifts with no time to travel home, are being used to reward officers for hard work.
Officers will also overspend on hotels, selecting more expensive options rather than looking for value for money. They will make themselves available for certain shifts so
that they have the use of a hotel room.
We were also told that access to elite training courses and police resources were
either signed off without proper scrutiny, or used as rewards.
We heard of excessive spending on unnecessary, high-end equipment and kit, such
as tomahawk axes and unusable night vision goggles which turned out to be useless
in London’s street-lit environment.
We were told that specialist vehicle camouflage wraps, ineffective on the streets of
London, were purchased, and that a senior officer had to step in to block their use.
We were told of officers being allowed to make multiple, frequent expense claims
just below the limit that would require formal sign off, travelling overseas for training
courses, and ordering iPads and personalised jackets on expenses.
We were told that no other parts of the Met are given the freedom to pick and choose
their own IT, their own equipment, their own clothing, only MO19 can. There is a
resulting sense of entitlement in MO19 with regard to access to resources. There is
also a preoccupation with pay and remuneration which the Review did not witness in
the same way elsewhere in the Met. There is no incentive for officers who are
earning excessive salaries to change the existing model.
