A senior female Asian Metropolitan Police whistleblower has told Byline Times that allegations of violence, sexual assault, and even rape made by her female colleagues against serving officers went ignored. 

Amina Ahmed was revealed last week by this newspaper to have resigned from the force saying systematic discrimination, racism and misogyny had damaged her career and mental health.

In her resignation letter Ms Ahmed referred to how, following the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021, The Met had organised ‘listening groups’ attended by senior management to “empower” staff to speak openly about the issues they had faced working in the force.

But according to Ahmed, a Muslim ‘leadership facilitator’ who won praise for her role attempting to improve diversity in The Met, those who made serious allegations discrimination and even criminality in the ‘safe space’ meetings were patronised, ignored and even “ostracised”. 

She claims she was warned by one female colleague to “keep quiet” about allegations made in the listening groups that the force has among its senior ranks “racist and misogynist” ‘Freemasons’.

Now the Met’s failure to act on complaints is, says Ahmed - a data analyst who has done significant research into ‘attrition’ rates in The Met using its own internal figures - leading female and ethnic minority police staff to leave the organisation “in their droves”.

In her first interview since leaving her job without a pay-off to “protect” her mental health, Ahmed told Byline Times: “Things appear to have got worse. People are being ostracised for speaking out.

“Ethnic minority and women police officers I know have faced repercussions by speaking out, but they are still doing their job, because they are selfless, amazing, kind human beings. 

“I commend them for it and my thoughts are with them, always. I just do not have the energy to do it any longer, not from the inside anyway.”

Referring to this month’s “extraordinary” call by the National Black Police Association for ethnic minorities to boycott joining, the 39-year-old single mum-of-two children, aged 10 and 11, added: “Would I recommend an ethnic minority person to join the police with all the systemic issues, and how traumatising it is? No. 

“Would I want my children to join when they are older? No way, absolutely not. This ultimately means things can never change. It’s incredibly sad.”

Ahmed joined the Met as an admin officer in January 2009. But it was after she moved into a role supporting police officers in investigations using number plate recognition in 2016 that Ahmed realised how “toxic” the atmosphere was on the force.  

“Some were racist, and would complain about immigration, and Black people, but nothing was ever done,” she recalls, citing one example where a young Black officer who was himself moved departments after complaining about a ‘racist’ colleague. 

“Misogyny was the worst thing. They openly called women ‘slags’ and ‘whores’, or would brag about women they’d ‘shagged’. I was thinking, ‘These are the men women report rape and sexual assault to, it’s appalling’.”

Ahmed added: “In the end it became normal. I wish I’d had the courage to say something but I was on a low salary, newly separated, with two toddlers, so I kept my head down. That’s when my depression and anxiety first set in. I got no help from management.”

Ahmed says things “went downhill” after a July 2020 promotion to a lead data analyst role inside the Met’s counter-terrorism unit in New Scotland Yard, as one of the most senior female Asian staff working in counter-terrorism. 

Despite doing well, Ahmed says she felt “isolated” as a one-person team in which she would often have to work until 1am despite being a single mum of two young kids, while White staff in similar positions received support. 

“The way people treated me, as an Asian woman, was very different to how

they would treat senior White male officers, particularly after I began to speak

out about my negative experiences of working in The Met.”

But she says the murder of Sarah Everard, and the Met’s reaction to that moment, was a moment of significant change for its female staff.

Ahmed, herself a domestic violence survivor, says Ms Everard’s killing by serving officer Wayne Couzens, “triggered a lot of feelings, with flashbacks of the stuff I would have to listen to from some male officers, and I kept thinking, ‘Couzens sounds like those guys.’ 

“Reflecting on where I’d failed to address concerning comments, I felt overwhelming guilt as they seemed more ominous than I’d perceived.”

Under the spotlight, The Met organised online ‘listening circles’ - events chaired by senior officers attended by up to 300 people, mainly women - which were an opportunity for Met staff to say how they felt about Everard’s murder, and their own experiences working in The Met. 

Ahmed said: “It was emotional. Women talked about being sexually assaulted or harassed by male colleagues. Some told how they had been sexually assaulted in police vehicles. Some female employees spoke of domestic violence by their officer partners. One person relayed an attempted rape. Some really dark stuff.”

It was the first time Ahmed had spoken at work about her experiences both in the police and in life. “The way I was treated changed overnight: I was treated like a disease. I couldn’t work out what I had done wrong. I guess there was a feeling I was a ‘grass’.”

She was not alone. Ahmed says while management in the listening circles would apologise and make promises of change, while advising how to make formal complaints, “nothing was done” and “none of the women got help or support. 

“If anything, women who pursued complaints were ostracised, rather than the perpetrators. The most they would do is move the victim to another department.

“Men facing official complaints would sometimes get support from their boys and be promoted but for many women it was a career ending move and had such a negative impact on their mental health. While [the listening circles] aim was to get people talking, it had the opposite effect.”

Ahmed says because she continued to challenge racism and misogyny in The Met, her mental health was struggling. One of her seniors, she claims, “said it wasn’t their problem and I needed to sort it out”. Another, she says, claimed Ahmed was “too sensitive and emotional”.

“There was zero compassion; they gaslighted my lived experiences in The Met, saying it was ‘all in the past’ and ‘we don’t have those issues any more’, or suggesting it was all in my head. I had a breakdown.”

Ahmed put in an official complaint against two of her managers. “The grievance assessors are in the Met themselves [so] it didn't go anywhere. I now see why nobody wants to [make an official complaint]. You do not win.”

A spokesman for The Met said: “We are aware of the statements made by Ms Ahmed following her resignation relating to alleged wrongdoing by colleagues. This was investigated under Met grievance procedures in 2022 but there was insufficient evidence to indicate misconduct by any officer or staff member.”

In late 2022, Ahmed organised in-person listening circles - initially for women only, and for domestic violence survivors. What she learned shocked her.

“There was a lot of [discussion] about Freemasons throughout The Met. They said some Masons would talk about it openly, while others had partners in the police who were Masons. 

“One female officer asked to meet me away from work on our day off, and told me she had been invited by Masons to a ‘fuck-buddy’ circle - kind of like a swinging club - which she said if women partake they’re more likely to get promoted. 

“But she said that since she’d said no, she’d been ostracised, sidelined, and never been promoted. She is an extremely intelligent woman. Every time she mentioned it to her manager she was told to keep quiet about it. 

“Another warned me to be careful as the Masons could be ‘dangerous’ and make my life ‘a living hell’. I relayed all this to [senior management] but nothing happened.”

The mysterious men’s-only group is not on The Met’s barred list and members are alleged to aid one another’s career progression and protect each other from disciplinary action. 

When Ahmed shared her resignation letter on LinkedIn, one person replied to relay a story of a police officer friend who’d been targeted by Masons in The Met in the 1980s.

They wrote: “He had been strongly advised by a training sergeant to join the local Freemasons lodge if he wanted job security or access to promotion. His views on [Black] people changed from accepting them as our friends to people to specifically target as potential criminals. There seems to have been little change over the years.” 

Ahmed, using her data analytic skills, also contributed to the Race Action Plan, which aims to ‘build an anti-racist police service and address race disparities affecting Black people working within or interacting with policing’, but says some of her seniors “didn’t like the data I was sharing as it made them look bad, and I would be shot down” and “told to hide certain datasets, and focus on positives. They would say things were changing and I was basically told to drop it.”

In March 2023, Ahmed became a facilitator on an aspiring leaders programme for ethnic minority officers. She was staggered by how “deflated” they seemed.

“Some Black constables are the most intelligent, articulate officers I’ve met, but were never promoted and felt they never would be. Some told me how they would be stopped and searched on police premises; others complained about racism in groups where they were ignored by White officers; others were referred to as ‘troublemakers’. Some felt suicidal.

“Trumped up disciplinaries were created for those who spoke out. It seemed to be a pattern. I shared this, but management got annoyed.”

Eventually, in September 2023, the detrimental effect of working in The Met got too much for Ahmed. “I was on a cocktail of meds for anxiety and had other health complications. Doctors have said they think it was the stress. 

“I was very ill and completely out of it. I was bed-ridden for two months - my kids had to effectively look after themselves. I had a number of meetings about attendance and returning to work, where [my bosses] suggested I look for another job. So for my sanity - and to make sure I was still able to look after my kids - I quit.” 

Ahmed added: “If I hadn’t resigned I feel I would have been pushed out. I felt I no longer had the ability to enact change inside, and the only way to do it is from outside.”

A Met Police spokesperson said: “The Met is committed to being anti-discriminatory in all we do, both in relation to our communities and our workforce. 

“We seek to understand diverse perspectives and treat people according to their needs, creating a workplace that is accessible and inclusive to all, where everyone can thrive.

“There is extensive work ongoing to address valid concerns about disproportionality and to provide officers and staff from all backgrounds with the confidence that they will be supported to succeed and progress in their careers. 

“This work has been, and will continue to be, influenced by the experience and insights of our officers, staff and volunteers.

“Allegations of wrongdoing are taken seriously and where officers and staff (including those who have left the organisation) have evidence to bring forward we would always encourage them to do so.”

Now setting up her own consultancy, Ahmed says the only way things can improve is through the wholesale change of senior management. “There are a lot of people in influential positions who are part of the problem; as such the situation won’t change.”

Making a personal plea to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, Ahmed said: “I can't imagine how hard it must be to be the Commissioner, as there are too many systemic issues for him to change anything anytime soon. 

“But I would suggest Mr Rowley think about humanity. He should start listening to people on the ground who have lived experience, and I would implore him to attend listening circles. It would make his staff feel listened to."