London Police head quits after string of scandals

London Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick in London, April 10, 2017. The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, mentioned she is resigning Thursday Feb. 10, 2022, after a string of controversies that undermined public confidence within the power and prompted a falling out between her and the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, on Thursday mentioned she is resigning after a string of controversies that undermined public confidence within the power and prompted a falling out between her and the capital’s mayor.

Mayor Sadiq Khan had not too long ago threatened to oust Dick from her position, saying she wasn’t doing sufficient to reform the Metropolitan Police, Britain’s largest police power, and deal with rising accusations of misogyny and racism inside her ranks.Khan mentioned late Thursday it was clear the one option to overhaul the power urgently was to have “new leadership right at the top of the Metropolitan Police.”Dick, who has headed the power since 2017 and is the primary lady to guide Scotland Yard, mentioned it was with “huge sadness” that it has turn into clear that Khan “no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue.”“He has left me no choice but to step aside as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service,” she mentioned in an announcement.Dick, 61, added that she is going to keep in her position for a brief interval to make sure the power’s stability whereas a alternative is discovered.A report final week by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog, condemned misogyny, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment amongst a dozen officers, most of them based mostly in central London’s Charing Cross police station.The report cited officers joking about rape and utilizing different offensive language in social media messages, and mentioned the incidents had been a part of a wider tradition that may’t be blamed on a couple of “bad apples.”Khan mentioned final week he was “not satisfied” with Dick’s response to requires change following scandals together with the killing of a girl by a serving police officer and the behaviour of officers cited by the police watchdog.“Last week, I made clear to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner the scale of the change I believe is urgently required to rebuild the trust and confidence of Londoners in the Met and to root out the racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny that still exists,” Khan mentioned.He thanked Dick for her 40 years of policing service.Dick confronted intense strain to stop final yr after a police officer, Wayne Couzens, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a girl, Sarah Everard, who was strolling residence at evening in London. Everard’s slaying by a serving officer shocked the nation, and the police power’s subsequent dealing with of vigils and protests in opposition to Everard’s slaying additionally got here beneath heavy fireplace.Dick acknowledged Thursday that the Everard case and others had “damaged confidence” in her power.