By Ben Kerrigan-
London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has hit out at outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick over a report into the Met released on Tuesday.
The report uncovered a litany of failures within the Met, including the recruitment of more than 100 officers with criminal records in the past two years alone.
Disturbingly, it also revealed examples of “hundreds of items” of evidence including “cash and drugs” being unaccounted for. In one of the most shameful revelations, it exposes deep seated corruption in the Met, including the fact a number of officers keep cash and drugs they seize for their own purposes, instead of declaring them in the expected manner required by professional standards.
Sadiq Khan, who was briefed on the findings of the report in February shortly before Cressida Dick’s resignation, said on Tuesday that “Londoners will be shocked” at the scale of the report’s findings as he hit out at Cressida Dick’s “failings”.
The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found “fundamental flaws” in Scotland Yard’s anti-corruption practices that were described as “unacceptable”.
Reacting to the report on Tuesday, Mr Khan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s shocking. Londoners will be shocked in relation to the findings of the HMIC report, in relation to the checks that aren’t being done that should be done, in relation to those with convictions working in sensitive areas and so forth.
“Londoners now know my views of the current Commissioner. The Met Police Federation and the current Commissioner may not like that I have an important job in holding the police to account but I take it very seriously. The new Commissioner’s job will be to address some of these failings – and they are failings.”
He added: “Clearly, when you have these sorts of failings not being addressed, Londoners will understand why I took the decision that I took.”
Despite her resignation last month, Cressida Dick is continuing in her role as Commissioner on a temporary basis while a new Commissioner is recruited.
On Tuesday, Sadiq Khan reiterated his position that the new Commissioner must present a plan for how they intend to restore public confidence in the Met.
He said: “The two pressing issues for the new Commissioner – bearing in mind the failure of the current Commissioner to do this – is one: to have a plan to address these issues. There are deep cultural issues around racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination and the like. And secondly, a plan to win back the trust and confidence of Londoners. In many communities across London, that has been lost and the Child Q case will make that worse not better.”
The HMICFRS report was ordered by Priti Patel last summer following the findings of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel which concluded the Met was “institutionally corrupt”.
The Home Secretary expressed disappointment that the serious issues uncovered in the report “still persist” despite some progress in certain areas.
She said: “Standards must be immediately improved. I expect the Mayor of London and the new Commissioner to reverse these deficiencies as a matter of urgency.”
Only this week, Khan criticized the UK government for not completing a single recommendation” from the first phase of a public inquiry into the devastating Grenfell Tower fire.
Up until now, none of these recommendations has been implemented, and no deadline has been provided by the government for when they will be, according to the mayor’s office.
The inquiry, which looked at where the June 2017 fire originated and how it spread to kill 72 residents in the north Kensington tower block, published its findings in a report in October 2019.
Khan’s concerns about the report about the Met will need to be addressed, but no plans have been made as to when this will happen.
Cressica Dick was forced to resign in February 2022, after Sadiq Khan expressed a lack of confidence in her position as senior Met Commissioner.