Commander dismissed from Met for second time

A Metropolitan Police Commander has been dismissed from the service for a second time for refusing to take a drugs test.

A misconduct hearing, led by an independent legally qualified chair, found the allegation proven against Commander Julian Bennett at the level of gross misconduct.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “I am enormously concerned that almost five years since this incident happened we have only now been able to dismiss Commander Bennett.

“This should have been a simple matter. Commander Bennett has never disputed he refused a lawful order to take a drugs test. As a senior officer who had chaired misconduct hearings, Commander Bennett was highly experienced and knew full well what was required of him, yet he made a choice not to co-operate.

“He has been suspended on full pay for an extraordinary length of time. I am sure Londoners will be as outraged as we are at the utter waste of public funds spent paying a senior officer to sit at home suspended and not work.

“In the last few years the Met has been making greater use of accelerated misconduct hearings to fast-track cases where the evidence is irrefutable. This allows us to dismiss officers far more quickly. And while the Met is not responsible for all the delays in Commander Bennett’s matter, we are also working hard to expedite cases and cut bureaucracy.

“I am confident a situation like Commander Bennett’s prolonged case would not happen again.”

Commander Bennett was initially dismissed in October 2023 by a misconduct panel independent of the Met.

The hearing heard that on 21 July 2020 he refused to provide a urine sample for a drugs test, having been informed there was reasonable cause to suspect he had taken drugs. On 24 July 2020 he was suspended from duty.

The panel found that Commander Bennett had breached the standards of professional behaviour to the level of gross misconduct.

Two further allegations were found not proven - that between February 2019 and 21 July 2020, while off duty, Commander Bennett smoked cannabis, and that he gave an untrue explanation for why he refused to take the drugs test.

Commander Bennett then applied to the Police Appeals Tribunal, which is an independent process run by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

In July 2024 the PAT quashed the dismissal decision and ordered a new hearing, on the technical basis that the panel had ruled on a matter that was not part of the allegations they were asked to consider.

The Met considered a legal challenge by way of a Judicial Review but, after careful consideration and legal advice, decided Commander Bennett should face a fresh misconduct hearing.

A date for a new hearing was set as quickly as possible in liaison with all parties.

Commander Bennett has remained suspended throughout this process.

He will be added to the Barred List held by the College of Policing. Those appearing on the list cannot be employed by police and a number of police-related bodies.