Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley presents pay-offs to filter out senior ranks who’re ‘lower than the problem’ of turning London’s scandal-hit drive round

Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley has offered voluntary exit pay-offs for senior officers who are ‘not up to the challenge’ of his planned overhaul of the force, according to reports. 

The plan was suggested in a letter from Sir Mark to officers between the ranks of chief inspector and chief superintendent earlier this week.

The top cop said he wanted to provide an ‘exit route’ for those that wanted to leave before he attempts to turn London‘s scandal-hit force around. 

It comes just hours after it emerged that another police sergeant who was secretly filmed as part of a BBC Panorama undercover documentary had been sacked. 

Sergeant Lawrence Hume from Charing Cross police station said that a detainee ‘deserves to be beaten up’ and that ‘I wanted to say he’s a p****’.

In the six-minute clip, Sergeant Hume goes on to say of the same detainee, ‘charge him, send him to prison, throw away the key’, adding, ‘don’t care, deserves to be beaten up don’t he’.

He is the sixth police officer who has been sacked for gross misconduct following the BBC investigation.

Speaking of the planned pay-offs, a source said: ‘Mark has been keen to clear out the dead wood for years. 

Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley has offered voluntary exit pay-offs for senior officers who are ‘not up to the challenge’ of his planned overhaul of the force

Sergeant Lawrence Hume has been sacked after being caught saying a detainee ‘deserves to be beaten up’ in a BBC Panorama investigation

‘When the BBC’s allegations about wrongdoing at Charing Cross police station became public, he was almost pleased – it made it much easier for him to press ahead with his reform agenda.’

Sir Mark’s plans for voluntary exit pay-offs, which were first reported by the i Paper, have been criticised by Metropolitan Police Federation, who accused him of making a ‘thinly veiled threat’ over jobs. 

Matt Cane, general secretary of the MPF, which represents the Met’s rank and file, said: ‘The overwhelming majority of our members at chief inspector rank give everything they have, often at considerable personal cost, to meet the growing and complex demands placed upon them.

‘They deserve support and respect, not threats of ‘forced distribution’, ‘performance processes’, or ‘dignified exits’.

‘The proposed voluntary exit scheme, framed as a ‘quick and dignified route out’, is a thinly veiled threat.’

He added: ‘It sends a chilling message to dedicated professionals that, after years of loyal service, their futures may be decided not by performance, but by whether they conform to an increasingly narrow definition of what senior leadership ‘should look like’.

‘The MPF will not stand by while our members are pressured or coerced out of the organisation under the guise of ‘efficiency’ or ‘high standards’.

PC Jason Sinclair-Birt (pictured) told a colleague he ‘whacked the s**t out of the back of his legs’ while discussing the use of force on a detainee

‘I will be writing to the commissioner over coming days to express our serious concerns.’

The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment.

Earlier this week, a review of anti-black racism within the force warned that discrimination is ‘baked’ into the HR systems of the Met.

The probe concluded that the Met’s systems, leadership, governance and culture are producing racial harm.

Last month, the Met confirmed it had removed more than 1,400 officers and staff from its ranks in three years in an ‘Al Capone’ approach to uncover wrongdoing.

The clear-out, sparked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, is the largest in the force’s history.

Figures show that 1,442 staff and officers were sacked, or resigned or retired between 2022 and June 2025.

Sir Mark warned at the time that there are ‘toxic or corrupt networks or cliques’ that might be resistant to change in the force.