Crooked cops, Graeme McLagan. Police Review 21.2.03, pp26-27
01 January 2003
This piece examines "bent coppers" and the most common crime among them, which is drug dealing. It looks at the Anti-Corruption Group (CIB, formerly the Complaints Investigation Branch) and its new branch CIB 3 whose "detectives were proactive, adopting the same methods as those against organised criminals." The CIB believes that claims of widespread police corruption are exaggerated and questions John Stevens, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, who estimates that there are between 125 and 250 corrupt Metropolitan police officers; they estimate that the real figure is "short of the 50 mark." Last October, Stevens lauded the fall in the number of complaints against the police, attributing it to "a change in attitudes" - though this may equally be due to peoples' lack of faith in the complaints system.