Summary of complaint
We received complaints about our approach to this programme.
Our response
We believe that this was an important piece of journalism, very much in the public interest. The reaction of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to the evidence presented by Panorama was to saythis: “The behaviour outlined in this programme is disgraceful, totally unacceptable,and contrary to the values and standards displayed by thousands of brave Met officers and staff every day. No-one will be more appalled than them.”
Panorama’s investigationwas broadcast two years after anindependent review led by Baroness LouiseCaseyin 2023 found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic, and homophobicand after which the Metropolitan Police promised change.
In February 2025, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the ѿý's Today programme: "The public can have confidence in us"but as you will know from the programme,ѿý Panorama teamhad received evidenceto suggest that efforts to change the force's culture had not been as successful as the commissioner claimed and that the Met still struggled with deep-rooted misogyny and racist attitudes within its ranks.Whistleblowers specifically highlighted Charing Cross police station as a source of concern, and thisbecame the focus of the investigation.
The programme sought to investigate these matters of public concern covertly, by way of secret camerasin order to evidence incidentswhich routine monitoring could not.The covert filming for this programme was carried out in accordance with the ѿý’s strict editorial guidelines.The reporting team on the programme have written an online article titledWhy ѿý sent undercover reporter into a busy London police stationto explain more about the background to the investigation and to explain how the material in the programme was gathered.
Panorama’s undercover filming was able to reveal how officerssought tokeep evidence of bad practice, poor attitudesandwrongdoing concealed, and whilstyou may not agree with theapproachused to evidence the feelings and attitudes of some officers, the covert filming was able toreveal attitudes and behaviours that the Metropolitan Police hasmade clearshouldhave no place in the force. It’s important to note that police standards of professional conduct make no distinction between behaviour on or off duty. As former Chief Constable Sue Fish told the programme; “It doesn't matter whether you're down the pub letting off some frustration. You're a cop. You have to behave differently to other people”.
We trust our audience can make a distinction between the individuals shown, and the majority of Police Officers around the UK whowork hard to keep the publicsafe and do an outstanding job.The programme pointed out the difficult job that staff and officers do. The commentary said,“Working in custody can be really tough. The team have to deal with difficult and sometimes violent people”.The programme was also careful to point out that during the undercover filming our reporter encountered many officers who performed their duties well.Towards the end the commentary also said,“Rory saw many officers behaving professionally while he was undercover”.
We believethatwe made it clear to the audience that the behaviour highlighted in the programme was not universal and therefore we do not believe that audiences would infer that all officers behaved in such a way. Whilst you may continue to disagree with our methodologythe investigation has highlighted significant issues which the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says warrant immediate and вԱԳٱ” action.