LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - London's Metropolitan Police hired more than 5,000 police officers and staff without required background checks between 2018 and 2023, Britain's interior ministry said on Thursday, launching an independent inquiry to find out what went wrong.

The Met, Britain's largest police force, has been badly tarnished by serving officers committing serious crimes - including murder and rape - and a 2023 review that found it was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

VETTING SHORTFALL CRITICISED BY GOVERNMENT

Thursday's announcement, which presented the findings of an internal Met review, also said the force could not confirm if a further 17,000 officers and staff had had the correct pre-employment checks.

"Abandoning vetting checks on officers was a dereliction of the Met's duty to keep London safe," said interior minister Shabana Mahmood.

The Met said it had deviated from some standard vetting procedures partly in response to government recruitment targets. That meant some people who would not have passed those checks joined or remained in the force, and some of those people became involved in criminal behaviour or misconduct, it said.

"We found that some historical practices did not meet the strengthened hiring and vetting standards we have today," said Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams. 

"We identified these issues ourselves and have fixed them quickly while making sure any risk to the public has been properly and effectively managed."

Mahmood said she was seeking to restore trust in the force's ability to protect and serve the public by ordering an urgent inspection to discover why normal vetting practices were not followed and check they were now being applied.

The findings of the inspection are expected later this year.

Met chief Mark Rowley was appointed when his predecessor, Cressida Dick, was effectively forced out by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who said he didn't think she could root out problems within the force.

Rowley has previously promised to rid the Met of corrupt and unacceptable officers following a series of scandals, but problems have continued.

In November a report cited systemic racism in how the Met dealt with Black members of the public and its own staff. Rowley said the report showed the force needed systematic change. In October, five officers were fired after a BBC documentary programme secretly filmed officers displaying racist or misogynist attitudes.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Philippa Fletcher)