London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley, Thomas Turrell, has spoke about his concern about the state of policing in Greater London, following the most recent report into the Metropolitan Police (Met).
The PEEL assessment concluded that the Met is failing in almost all its areas of work. Concerns were raised about how the Met investigates crime, manages offenders and suspects, and how it prevents and reduces crime. Following this, the Conservative group at City Hall moved a motion expressing its concerns over the outcome of the assessment, which was passed at an Assembly meeting on the 5th September.
The motion calls on the Mayor as London’s Police and Crime Commissioner to set out in detail how he intends to improve the Met’s performance in response to this assessment and restore Londoner’s confidence in their police service.
Thomas Turrell said:
“Londoners know that policing across Greater London is not good enough at the moment and things need to change. We are served by hard working and dedicated officers who are being let down the Mayor’s failure to provide the leadership the organisation desperately needs. Police Officers are being left waiting for the bus because they no longer have bases in their communities. The Mayor has had to return money for recruitment to the Government because he missed the target. The Met is struggling to both recruit new officers and retain the ones it does have. This urgently needs to be addressed. It is time the Mayor stopped blaming others and started taking ownership and delivering the leadership to fix the situation.”
Conservative Assembly Member, Susan Hall AM, who proposed the motion, said:
"The latest PEEL assessment highlighted shocking failings within the Metropolitan Police Service. Even the most critical areas like “investigating crime” were rated as ‘Inadequate,’ eroding the confidence Londoners should have in their police.
“While I am glad that positive strides have been made in the use of stop and search, the overall report makes it clear that urgent action is needed.
“I call on the Mayor to take immediate, decisive steps to address these failings and restore trust in our police service."
