Sunday, April 10, 2022
Cloth-eared and out-of-office
What exactly is falied ex-Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick saying when she warns against the “politicisation of policing”?
According to the Guardian, in a farewell letter to London before her last day in post, Dick said there was more she wished the force had achieved during her time at the top.
But she added: “The current politicisation of policing is a threat not just to policing but to trust in the whole criminal justice system. Operational independence from local and central government is crucial for an effective democracy and is a model respected around the world. We must all treasure and protect it.”
This is the same operational independence that allowed a scandal in the Charing Cross police station, where officers were found to have shared racist, sexist, misogynist and Islamophobic messages. The paper records that two of the officers investigated were promoted, while nine were left to continue serving. And there is more:
The Met leadership’s handling of the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by a serving Met officer also caused consternation in City Hall and government.
After her killer was sentenced to a whole-life term in September 2021, the Met leadership was expected to show it understood those concerns. Instead, it was mocked after saying that women who were worried about an officer approaching them could wave down a bus.
Since her departure was announced, judges have ruled that the Met breached the rights of the organisers of a vigil for Everard with its handling of the planned event.
The police do not operate in a vacuum. We are a democracy, not a police state. The police operate with our consent, enforcing laws passed by Parliament, and must be seen to uphold the highest standards. The Met and other forces must be accountable for their actions.
If Cressida Dick cannot grasp that then it is a good thing she was forced out. Her inability to understand democratic accountability, and to enforce standards in her own force, made her departrure inevitable. Now is the time to carry out the necessary reforms she was unable or unwilling to implement.
According to the Guardian, in a farewell letter to London before her last day in post, Dick said there was more she wished the force had achieved during her time at the top.
But she added: “The current politicisation of policing is a threat not just to policing but to trust in the whole criminal justice system. Operational independence from local and central government is crucial for an effective democracy and is a model respected around the world. We must all treasure and protect it.”
This is the same operational independence that allowed a scandal in the Charing Cross police station, where officers were found to have shared racist, sexist, misogynist and Islamophobic messages. The paper records that two of the officers investigated were promoted, while nine were left to continue serving. And there is more:
The Met leadership’s handling of the murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by a serving Met officer also caused consternation in City Hall and government.
After her killer was sentenced to a whole-life term in September 2021, the Met leadership was expected to show it understood those concerns. Instead, it was mocked after saying that women who were worried about an officer approaching them could wave down a bus.
Since her departure was announced, judges have ruled that the Met breached the rights of the organisers of a vigil for Everard with its handling of the planned event.
The police do not operate in a vacuum. We are a democracy, not a police state. The police operate with our consent, enforcing laws passed by Parliament, and must be seen to uphold the highest standards. The Met and other forces must be accountable for their actions.
If Cressida Dick cannot grasp that then it is a good thing she was forced out. Her inability to understand democratic accountability, and to enforce standards in her own force, made her departrure inevitable. Now is the time to carry out the necessary reforms she was unable or unwilling to implement.
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The appointment of chief constables has always had a political component, but more than most Ms Dick had reason to be grateful for the support of a certain London mayor and now prime minister. For her to complain about politicisation seems a little ungrateful.
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