Britain’s biggest police force has its highest ever number of female officers, new figures show. The Metropolitan police said its female officer representation is 30.4%, equating to 10,386 officers, as of the end of September 2022. The force said it aims to increase the proportion to 33% by the financial year of 2023/2024. It added that its target is for 50% of all new recruits to be women. Since April 2022, from a total of 1,678 officers recruited, 44.5% were women. Sir Mark Rowley, the recently appointed commissioner of the force, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, attended a Met outreach team event in Stratford, east London, on Friday. The force is trying to increase the proportion of officers from racially diverse backgrounds, as out of its 34,112 police officers, only 16.6% are from black, Asian and multiple ethnic heritage communities. A mere 3.6% of officers are black. Rowley said: “The evidence across the world is that the best companies and organisations benefit from diverse teams. It is not only about fairness, it is about being most effective in a complex world. “I am really pleased that we have achieved our highest ever female representation as part of the Met reaching its greatest ever total number of officers. “The Met is committed to making progress on all of its recruitment ambitions. We are working hard to replicate this success in attracting those from black and multiple ethnic heritage communities to a career in the Met – so our workforce better reflects the communities we serve.” The figures come a few weeks after a damning review found that Met officers suspected of serious criminal offences including sexual assault and domestic abuse have been allowed to escape justice. Massive failings in how Britain’s biggest force rooted out wrongdoing were exposed in an interim report by Louise Casey, which found “systemic problems” with racism and misogyny in the Met. One officer faced 11 claims including sexual assault, harassment and domestic abuse, but remains in the force, the report found. Rowley said he was appalled by the findings and apologised to officers and members of the public who had been let down. He said at the time that the number of officers and staff being sacked each year, between 30 and 50, was “massively under-engineered”, and he estimated there are hundreds of officers in the Met who should be kicked out of the force. Casey was commissioned by the Met in the wake of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer. Among the findings were that black officers were 81% more likely to face disciplinary action and new ethnic recruits were more than 120% more likely to be fired than white counterparts. Casey’s full report is due next year as is another report ordered by the government.