London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, Thomas Turrell, has called on the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to properly fund crucial reforms to the Metropolitan Police, following a damning report from the Police Force Inspector where of the nine areas assessed, zero were rated ‘Outstanding’, zero were rated ‘Good’, and only police powers and public treatment were rated as ‘Adequate’.
The Inspector also said he had “serious concerns about how the force is currently investigating crime and managing offenders and suspects” and “concerns about how the force is preventing and reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service."
The report sets out a series of concerns such as:
· On preventing crime, responding to the public, protecting vulnerable people, developing a positive workplace and leadership and force management were rated ‘Requires Improvement’.
· Most concerningly, investigating crime and managing offenders were rated as ‘Inadequate’.
· The Met was labelled as "inconsistent" in managing sex offenders, with a backlog of visits and risk assessment in some teams.
· The force was told it has more work to do to make sure it "consistently assesses the level of risk" for all 999 and 101 calls when considering a response.
· The report claims that the force "hasn’t met its goal of reducing the number of outstanding suspects".
· The report also highlights a "significant issues in the standards of investigation, victim care and investigation management" in the Met's victim service, and that "some offences involving vulnerable people aren’t being investigated by suitably trained investigators".
· Other findings included issues arising due to a lack of training for investigating officers, including in managing sex offence suspects and offenders, and inexperienced officers "trying to manage large workloads beyond their training and knowledge".
· The force’s "culture makes some officers and staff reluctant to speak out about poor behaviour".
The Met has also been the centre of a number of scandals which have further undermined confidence in the police. To address this, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley last year published the 'Net Met for London' plan.
This plan sets out series of measures to restore confidence in the police and address serious failings outlined in reports such as the PEEL report and Casey review. Reforms such as restoring neighbourhood policing with new police bases, fix the culture of the Met and restore faith in London’s police.
However, despite finding £630 million for pre-election gimmicks like the renaming of the Overground and a trial of off-peak Friday scheme (which had no impact on passenger numbers), the Mayor refused to commit to funding the additional requirements in the Commissioners plan.
Thomas claims the extra funding could have been used to open new police bases in Penge, West Wickham, Chislehurst (or Mottingham), Erith and Falconwood. Instead neighbourhood police officers across Bexley and Bromley are left based miles away from the communities they serve, and in many cases have to wait for the bus to get to their patrols.
In addition to this, the previous Conservative Government funded an additional 20,000 officers across England and Wales. The Mayor was given £64 million to fund London’sshare of these additional officers, however, Sadiq Khan, the Met was the only force in England and Wales who fell short on the recruitment target and had a to return money.
Thomas said: "This report reveals the damning state of our police force in London. The Mayor must step up and show leadership on this. He must urgently fund the measures set out in the New Met for London Plan and must prioritise restoring neighbourhood policing across the capital. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.”
