Six PCs keep jobs after smashing up suspect’s car with baseball bats

One “overly aggressive” detective sergeant was reduced in rank to detective constable but he and five other officers will remain at the Metropolitan Police.

A misconduct probe was launched after the incident in Edmonton, north London, in 2008 was captured on film.

The officers were from the former Enfield crime squad, which has been at the centre of other corruption investigations.

The five PCs involved were formally reprimanded after a Met Police misconduct hearing heard evidence surrounding their actions on a suspected stolen car.

The detective sergeant failed to properly supervise his officers by allowing them to use baseball bats and a pickaxe handle to stop and detain the driver, the panel found.

“The five other officers were found to have used more force than was reasonable or necessary to affect the stop by using a non-issue baseball bat, hitting the rear offside window, causing it to smash,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission managed the investigation.

Commander Peter Spindler, of the force’s directorate of professional standards, said: “The behaviour displayed by the six officers was unacceptable and as such the board has rightly sanctioned them for it.

“The officers abused their position of trust and authority and by doing so breached the high professional standards expected by the public and the vast majority of outstanding MPS officers and staff who carry out their service to the public with professionalism and integrity.”