Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes said ‘Line of Duty’ detectives are using methods similar to those deployed against US gangster Al Capone
The biggest police corruption clearout in British history has adopted the tactics that brought down Al Capone to root out more than 1,400 officers and staff.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes said detectives are using similar methods deployed against the US gangster by Chicago police. After evading attempts to be pinned down for murder, Al Capone was arrested in 1929 for carrying a concealed weapon and eventually brought down for tax evasion.
Mr Jukes said on Wednesday: “In the same way we would take a sort of Al Capone approach to tackling organised criminality, we’re taking that same 360 degree view of misconduct.
“Looking at questions like sickness, grievances, looking at monitoring officers’ use of devices so that we can hold individuals to account, bringing all of that information together to identify officers and staff who are of the greatest concern.” He said the amount of overtime taken can be an indication there is a problem. Mr Jukes said: “Overtime and money are a big driver of people’s motivation.
“If the pursuit of that becomes self-serving, it’s a really problematic indicator. We ask a lot of people and many of our officers work excess hours, long hours, and are rewarded for that, and should be rewarded for it.
“But if you really drill into who your top overtime earners are, this is part of the Al Capone approach, you will find people whose performance does not match the amount of money they’re earning. So, it’s looking for those signals that tell us we’ve got problem places and problem people.”
Mr Jukes was speaking after nine officers based at scandal-hit Charing Cross police station in central London were last week suspended over allegations of racism and misogyny. It comes six years after similar claims at the same station contributed to the resignation of Cressida Dick, the previous Met commissioner.
The clearout, sparked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, 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. The annual number rose from 146 in 2021 to 557 in 2024.
Officers are being investigated by the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, which inspired TV’s Line of Duty.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said there are “toxic or corrupt networks or cliques” that might be resistant to change in the force. Sir Mark confirmed the clearout was bigger than the previous largest purge of bent cops in the UK, carried out by former Met Commissioner Sir Robert Mark in the 1970s.
Sir Robert, who rooted out around 500 rogue cops, said at the time: “A good police force is one that catches more criminals than it employs”.
The entire custody team at Charing Cross police station is being disbanded as the current investigation continues. Separately, four officers have been arrested and a fifth charged as part of an inquiry into their handling of a sexual assault allegation against a colleague. Four of the officers are based in the area squad for north-west London while the fifth is in the Met’s DPS.
A review of the culture in the Met by Baroness Casey in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder found that the unit where killer Couzens was based was a “dark corner” of the Met. David Carrick, later unmasked as a serial rapist, was also based there.
Bosses have since brought in changes to move officers in specialist units around and to move officers on promotion, to try to avoid power networks forming.
