Metropolitan Police officers could be forced to tell their bosses if they are part of the Freemasons.
The Met, the UK’s largest police force, has opened a consultation on whether the group should be added to its declarable associations policy.
The Met doesn’t currently ask officers if they are Masons and has never banned them from joining.
Members of the group take an oath of loyalty to the fraternity’s principles and to supporting fellow members.
Officers and staff have expressed concerns about the impact that membership of such a group could be having on “investigations, promotions and misconduct”, Scotland Yard said.
As it stands, officers must declare if they have connections to anyone convicted of a crime, dismissed from policing, or involved in lawful jobs like private investigation or journalism, under the force’s declarable associations policy.
The Freemasons are “one of the oldest secular social and charitable organisations in the world”, with 170,000 members in England and Wales, according to the United Grand Lodge of England website.
Any man aged over 18 can join, regardless of age, race, religion, culture or background. Women can join Freemasonry through women-only Grand Lodges.
According to the organisation, the values of integrity, friendship, respect and service help “define” a Freemason’s “path through life”.
The Freemasons have no political or religious affiliations and are considered secular – though applicants must believe in the existence of a supreme being and in the immortality of the soul.
Masons meet in Lodges where ceremonial traditions take place and members are encouraged to be “more tolerant and respectful and fulfil our civic and charitable responsibilities”.
In terms of a formal, organised group, the Freemasons are more than 300 years old, with roots in the traditions of the medieval stonemasons.
Freemasons donate almost £1m to charity each week.
Famous Freemasons include Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who joined a Royal Navy lodge in 1952, at the age of 31, as well as Winston Churchill, and England’s 1966 World Cup winning manager, Sir Alf Ramsey.
They must also make clear any links to individuals or groups that might compromise their integrity or damage the reputation of the force.
It follows a recommendation from the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report – an investigation of the force’s handling of the unsolved 1987 murder of private detective Daniel Morgan.
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The 37-year-old father-of-two was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, southeast London, in March 1987.
A string of inquiries over the decades unearthed allegations of corruption.
The 2021 report said police officers’ membership of the Freemasons had been “a source of recurring suspicion and mistrust in the investigations”.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who is responsible for setting the strategic direction of policing in London, has previously ruled out a compulsory register of freemasonry in the Met, saying it could go against officers’ human rights.
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Met Commander Simon Messinger said: “We are now consulting on a proposal to add to that list involvement in Freemasonry – and potentially other organisations that could call impartiality into question or give rise to conflict of loyalties – and are keen to hear the views of our officers and staff.
Staff can still join the Freemasons or another similar organisation, he said, “but it means we will know who is a part of it”.
Senior officers will be discussing the proposed policy change with the United Grand Lodge of England, the headquarters of Freemasonry in England and Wales.
