It is hard to see how the police may ever restore their shattered reputation after this.

First we saw a string of offences committed by serving police officers including rape and murder.

Then we saw a damning report on the Metropolitan Police that said (among other criticisms) that rape might as well be legal in London.

Now we see a former head of the organisation that was supposed to guarantee that police uphold the highest standards being accused of sexual offences against an under-age girl.

We all know power corrupts. If these charges are proved, then it will once again be clear that the police have been given far too much of it.

And where is the Tory government in all this? Home Office ministers are supposed to ensure that the police bring justice to lawbreakers – not become criminals themselves.

Is this yet another example of the rot brought to the UK by the likes of Boris Johnson, who sends his lawbreaking friends to the House of Lords?

The former head of the police watchdog for England and Wales has been charged with rape and other sexual offences against a girl under the age of 16.

Michael Lockwood, 64, former director-general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, was charged with three offences of rape and six counts of indecent assault, the Crown Prosecution Service said on Friday.

Lockwood stepped down in December after the police investigation into the historical allegations became public.

The charges will be seen as another blow to public trust in policing. They come just a week after Andy Cooke, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, warned in his annual report that police forces in England and Wales were experiencing “one of their biggest crises in living memory” and that trust was “hanging by a thread”.

Source: Ex-head of police watchdog for England and Wales charged with rape | Financial Times

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