Sir Robert Mark: The Man Who Cleaned Up The Met Police

Michael Cockerell's feature on former Metropolitan Police commissioner Robert Mark, who was on a mission to root out corruption from Scotland Yard.

[@cryptohunt2552]

Robert Mark was a real copper. And a D-Day veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy in 1944. We need more of his kind today.

[@splinterbyrd]

Unfortunately I'm not sure there _are_ any of his kind today

[@rodnet1974]

This guy is one of my heroes!

[@zeddeka]

Do you honestly think that many others in the police at that time, who were often highly corrupt, weren't also war veterans? Serving in the army like that is no guarantee that you aren't corrupt (as anyone who knows about the corruption that went on during the war knows). The war ended almost a century ago now, so nobody is going to be storming any beaches anywhere - not that it would be of any help anyway. In any event, he quite clearly did a fairly limited job. Just a couple of years after this, the government launched the notorious 'Operation Countryman' to look into police corruption in the Met because there was still so much of it. The records of it were sealed for 70 years.

[@zeddeka]

​@@splinterbyrdgrumpy old man alert

[@chrismccartney8668]

Bung Days We need a New Robert Mark !!!

[@chorltonwheelie168]

Sir Robert Mark, I salute you Sir. May God bless you in heaven fit all the crap you must have taken.

[@chorltonwheelie168]

This guy Sir Robert Mark was the top man !!!

[@Smellthecoffee100]

Ignored the gang rape of white girls by 1970s Yorkshire Pakistani immigrants

[@johnstephenson01]

@@Smellthecoffee100 That's because Yorkshire isn't in London. Mark was Commissioner of the Met -- the police force for London -- not Chief Constable of Yorkshire.

[@No.Handle31]

The MET needs another Robert Mark not someone who is flavour of the month.

[@boilerroombob]

A rare breed indeed was robert

[@grahamwhittle1971]

Sir Robert mark that should put this man in every big police station in 2019 its someone like this to sort all the rubbish out

[@jimgroves3020]

Sir Robert mark was unique , he was the only Police Officer to come from an outside Force as Commissioner and actually fit in , shake the Job up for the good of the Force and the public and make a difference ,strangely apart from basic training the only course Sir Robert ever di in his service was a Superintendents course , he was a detective but was not trained as one, he was not a police driver or even authorised to ride a push bike , but he knew men and how to get the best out of them, by the time he left he was greatly loved and respected by the officers in the Met under his command.

[@mattbeardsworth3201]

I wonder what Robert Mark would make of this book: Untouchables Dirty cops, bent justice and racism in Scotland Yard

[@slickrick320]

Good book. I've read it.

[@andrewemery8495]

I wish he had cleaned up the Met. Sadly, those of us "in the job" know that it ran deeper than even Robert Mark realised, and continues to this day.

[@plumduff3303]

Agreed old son

[@plumduff3303]

Best we leave it there

[@josephroo7060]

Klassic can't beat them, join them.

[@marcuswilliamson4167]

How is it possible for you to know how much Robert Mark knew? And to know more about corruption in the Met in the early 70s than he did?

[@maxheadrom3088]

I remember watching this whole documentary and developed a real admiration for Robert Mark. Would you say he was the inspiration for Superintendent Hastings on Line of Duty?

[@markrl75]

He shovelled an awful lot of excrement out of the pigsty, however there was still plenty of it left when he retired. There was simply too much of it for one man to remove. Just like Japanese knotweed corruption proved impossible to eradicate completely.

[@jayrobthorn6847]

I think the truth is that it would take an army to sort out the whole of the system throughout the entire country as an whole, its not just the met although a good place to start, you have corruption in the local council, social services and many other government bodies, this goes way way deeper than we think.

[@marcuswilliamson4167]

He was well aware of that. He actually retired early because the Government changed the process for investigations of police/discipline and he felt that it would make it impossible for him to continue his work.

[@wincanton2]

There is a book called "The fall of Scotland Yard" written in 1977 by Barry Cox, John Shirley & Martin Short. It is very good & informative, although it is a hard book to find..

[@redpilledpict2747]

I still have that book.I knew what was going on at the time.Everyone around Piccadilly Circus knew the score.It was an open secret.I was doing some casual work and used to speak to a young PC who was sent out alone at night and said that he was in the doghouse as he was the only one that would not take the weekly brown envelope.He was a pariah at West End Central.Nothing has ever changed. "A firm within a firm" !

[@DarkNemesis4300]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

[@robnewman6101]

The Custodian Helmet is the headgear traditionally worn by male police constables and sergeants while on foot patrol in England and Wales. Officers of all ranks in most forces are also issued a flat, peaked cap that is worn on mobile patrol in a vehicle. Ranks above sergeant wear the peaked cap only. However, some Inspectors wear the Custodian Helmet, but with two silver bands around the base (to match the two pips worn as rank insignia) to denote their position. Claimed by some sources to have been based on the spiked pickelhaube worn by the Prussian Army, it was first adopted by the London Metropolitan Police in 1863 to replace the "stovepipe" top hat worn since 1829. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police replaced the previous uniform of white trousers, swallow-tailed coat and top hat in favour of very dark blue trousers, a more modern button up tunic and the early type of helmet which had an upturned brim at the front and a raised spine at the back, running from the bottom to the top of the helmet, which became known as the "cockscomb".

[@johnmc3862]

Corruption is somewhere in almost ever corporation. The UK police are no different.

[@helveticaification]

Tf Stevens believed,as he stated, that despite some honest cops - like himself, of course, and his colleagues - there were many bent cops in the Met, CID etc why did he leave it so someone else (Robert Mark) to do something about it? And what were a succession of Home Secretaries doing to set the tone?

[@josephroo7060]

What a good sport !

[@No.Handle31]

6:31 me on a Saturday night.

[@SuperG3cko]

Unfortunately it's now more corrupt than ever

[@plumduff3303]

Good bloke no chance

[@paulripley2178]

The Great Sir Robert Mark, what would he think of the shsmbles the MET is today? Mark Rowley cannot do his job. Why is he still there?

[@robnewman6101]

Robert Peel (1788-1850) the founder of the first new Metropolitan Police Force Service at Scotland Yard in 1829.

[@richardsharpe2966]

Did Sir Robert Mark do a commercial for Goodyear Tyres could someone confirm this please

[@kevindempsey5486]

He did. It was a road safety advert.

[@87654321j]

My favourite type of Copper is one who bends the rules when needed but never breaks them by taking bribes for instance

[@nchcroy3877]

He did!!

[@applemask]

Drive like that on a public highway and you'd deserve to be called a raving maniac.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Could someone please tell me the name of the narrator/producer? This is from a piece about 3 people and I'm looking for the original piece. BTW, I use this video very often because this guy is an example of being right and not caring what people thing about how one talks.

[@maxheadrom3088]

And it's Michael Cokerell! Thanks Wooooddddyamovies3!

[@oven-bakedtoes4656]

Eyy that's my ancestor

[@oldschoolgamer7731]

when robert mark is walking in scotland yard do anybody know what guitar song it is please

[@wolflupus788]

met .keep it Clean.!

[@robnewman6101]

Hallo Hallo.

[@zeddeka]

When they're talking about the police and the porn barons and the hardcore pornography they sold, they're also talking about stuff with children, of which there was an absolutely booming trade then, often with links to organised crime and paedophile rings.

[@eamonnevans8005]

Today, the Met has never been more cleaner and politically correct - and the crime rate has never been more higher and the clear up rate more lower. Read into that what you may..(!)

[@dhss333]

QUIS CUSTODIET....

[@aadrianlee]

Look up operation Tiberius

[@adamperkins3724]

Is this a bbc documentary?

[@maxheadrom3088]

It is a documentary, probably BBC. I found it once in full on youtube but the only personality I remember paying attention was Robert Mark. I would love to find it again.

[@maxheadrom3088]

I found it. BBC documentary: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y37HYnSie8ihi7s

[@aadrianlee]

STRANGE how it is called Scotland Yard when it is in England. STRANGE ( ;

[@Keithbarber]

Not that strange when the premises first used by the metropolitan police was already called Scotland yard before they moved in

[@chrismccartney8668]

A10 Think CI 5 And the Sweeney

[@tester4327]

Sure he really sorted it out 😄😄😄😄😄

[@carlgriffiths2689]

Ha ha didn't do a very good job, mets full of bent officers

[@garethfloydevans861]

Ye no gay detectives they cant be trusted round youg kids

[@helveticaification]

stupid comment

[@jaxcoss5790]

Most kiddie fiddlers are not gay. Do some research ffs

[@betatester2560]

I Kind of doubt it

[@Bullalabootholes]

What a joke? The best police force in the world.LOL