A new report from Policy Exchange assesses the performance of the
Metropolitan Police at the three-year point of Commissioner Sir
Mark Rowley's term of office.
The report shows:
- Public confidence in the Metropolitan Police has fallen
further in the last three years, since the start of Sir Mark
Rowley's term as Commissioner – to an all-time low, since modern
records began, of only 45 percent of Londoners believing the
force is doing a good job in their local area (in the 12 months
to June 2025). This is down from 69% almost ten years ago in
2016.
- There have been falls in the volume of knife crime offences
during 2025 compared to 2024, however the Met recorded higher
levels of knife crime compared to other major English forces (for
the last full financial year on record to March 2025) - per
100,000 population knife crime rates were 17.8 per cent higher
than the West Midlands, 36.8 per cent higher than Greater
Manchester, 44.6 per cent higher than South Yorkshire and 46.9
per cent higher than West Yorkshire.
- The force is revealed to be solving only a tiny fraction of
reported high-volume theft offences in London, solving
only: around 1 in 20 robberies and burglaries, 1 in 76
bicycle thefts, 1 in 179 theft person offences such as
pick-pocketing and 1 in 13 shoplifting offences.
The report identifies key elements which have led to the force's
failure to deliver on the Commissioner's promise to create the
“strongest ever neighbourhood policing”:
- a years-long delay in shifting the doctrine of neighbourhood
policing teams from community engagement to crime-fighting;
- a fall in the number of officers deployed to
local Borough-based frontline policing teams of 8.3 per
cent or 1,631 officers while the number of civilian staff members
in the force has increased by 14.54 per cent or 1,453 staff
members;
- a failure to mitigate the impact of police station closures –
with plans for there to be only two police station front counters
open 24/7 in the entirety of London; and
- a failure to mitigate previous significant changes to the
local police leadership structures, with command teams now
stretched across between two and four local boroughs in the
capital.
Across the following key areas, Policy Exchange assesses the
force's performance as follows:
- Public Confidence - Inadequate
- Crime Fighting - Required Improvement
- Policing Protests - Inadequate
- Public Trust, Confidence and Professionalism - Adequate
The report makes five core recommendations for the Home
Secretary, Commissioner and Chief Inspector of
Constabulary.
