If a recent story in the Guardian is to be believed then Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is on her way out of her job.
The Guardian said:
Ministers and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, have begun discussions about whether her turbulent term in charge of Britain’s biggest force will be extended, with a decision said to be “imminent”.
Dick, the first woman in charge of the London force since it was established in 1829, is on a five-year contract that expires in April 2022. She could step down then or have the contract extended for a period.
The commissioner of the Met is appointed by the home secretary, who has to have due regard for the views of the mayor of London, Labour’s Sadiq Khan. Downing Street is also expected to have a say. Dick and Priti Patel, the home secretary, discussed the commissioner’s future last week, it is understood.
The Home Office is more determined to decide the Met’s future leadership than in 2017 when Dick was selected, it is understood. Then, Khan was in the driving seat, with the Conservatives preaching a doctrine of “localism”. One source stressed this was a “different Home Office” that believed it should be more involved in shaping the direction of policing.
Cressida Dick has had a terrible time at New Scotland Yard. She’s presided over a massive rise in violent crime and politicisation of the police, a situation that has become now very obvious to many people. I do wonder and indeed worry about who would replace her as some of the names suggested do not exactly fill me with confidence when it comes to having London policed both equitably and effectively. I suspect that London’s police will get another politically correct cipher to lead them but there’s always the chance that the Home Office will be more proactive than it was in the past and put in place an officer who will police as Londoners, not the screaming Leftist activists, want and need to be policed.
My concern is that we will get the highly politically partial Neil Basu, a man who couldn’t or rather wouldn’t give me a staright answer when at a public meeting of Harrow Safer Neighborhoods Board, I aske what he was doing to ensure that all Londoners are treated equally under the Law.
Having spun us the usual “corporate” bollocks about “equaliy and diversity” I cited several comparable examples of disparate treatment.
His answer “That’s not my job” to which I should have replied but was told to sit down, “As assistant commissioner for terrorism and public order, how is that not your job?”
The man is a dangerous ideologue and if he gets appointed to the position, the two-tier policing, abandonment of the streets and online trawling for hurty-words will get far worse.
My choice would be to bring back into the job, the one decent Borough Commander worthy of the name, a proper copper, ex-Chief Supt Richard Walton.
Like you I’m worried about a political creature like Basu getting the job. I’m also worried about the head of the College of Policing being a potential candidate. Neither of these two possible candidates give me any confidence when it comes to policing London equitably or effectively.
Policing London equitably or effectively is the last thing Khan wants: he requires his own cadre of enforcers of his political ideology – nothing less, nothing more.
Khan does seem to want political police who will push his leftist ideology on the streets. Maybe the Home Office wanting to take more of an interest in how London is policed might mean that a more honest, decent and less politically bent officer might be appointed for this important office?
If there was likely to be anyone not in her mould to succeed her, this would be good news.
But I fear it’s not…
Yeah that’s my worry as well, that London will get another Cressida Dick-a-like clone. Depends on whether the Home Office is really serious about taking more control of the police away from Saracen Khan and putting in an effective and equitable officer.