On 10 February 2022 Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Dame
Cressida Dick, resigned from her role.
The Home Secretary, , has said:
Yesterday I expressed my thanks to Dame Cressida Dick for her
service as she announced her resignation as Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police.
She was the first woman to hold the post and has exemplified the
increasingly diverse nature of our police, demonstrating that all
can aspire to hold leadership roles in policing in this country
today.
Today, as I prepare to begin the process of choosing her
successor, I want to reassure Londoners and people across the
country of my commitment to selecting the right leader for the
largest police force in the country.
Leading the Met is a privilege with enormous and unique
responsibilities. The first duty is to protect the public, the
people and the streets of our capital, making London a safer
place to live, work and visit.
The Commissioner is a national leader, with a critical national
role in respect of overseeing our counter terrorism capability
when there remain a variety of threats out there from people and
groups who wish this country harm.
This is the biggest leadership role in policing. However, at this
particular time, the challenges facing the new Commissioner are
stark and could not be more sobering.
Following a series of appalling and sickening incidents and too
many historical cases involving serving Met Police officers, it
is clear that strong and decisive and new leadership will be
required to restore public confidence in the largest police force
in the country.
The public in London and across the entire country must once
again have the confidence to trust the integrity and
professionalism of the police officers who serve them.
Policing culture, conduct, attitudes and behaviours have rightly
all come under scrutiny and be in no doubt that a new leader must
tackle these institutional issues that have brought great shame
on elements of policing.
I will appoint a Commissioner who will deliver for the public
whom our police serve and represent. Beating crime, preventing
crime, protecting our citizens, our streets and communities at a
time when this government is investing record sums into the
police, is paramount.
And above all that’s what I – and the public across the country –
will want from the country’s most senior police officer: someone
focused on the basics of reducing violence in the city, tackling
the abuse of women and girls, ridding our streets of drugs,
knives and weapons, saving lives and protecting the public from
the those who wish to do them harm.
