Congrats, Cressida, — but do mind how you go . . .

THIS column doesn’t do honeymoon periods, but the new Met police commissioner Cressida Dick has to be an improvement on the outgoing Bernard hyphen-howe.

I’ve never held the tragic death of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes against her, even though she was in charge of the operation which led to him being shot.

London was jumpy after the July 7 Tube and bus bombings. More attacks were planned and the police were under unimaginable pressure to stop them.

De Menezes was in the wrong place at the wrong time and became another innocent casualty of the war on London being waged by Islamist terrorists.

The first female commissioner has an impressive track record and is reported to be popular with the troops — which is more than can be said for hyphen-howe, who played favourites and drove talented senior officers to retire early.

What worries me is her defence of the outrageous, heavy-handed dawn raids on innocent journalists, guilty of nothing more than doing their jobs, during the deranged anti-Press witchhunt which followed the phone-hacking scandal.

The police have to be accountable, not just to their political masters but also to the paying public, who get their information from the media.

Criminalising contacts between coppers and crime reporters creates a sinister culture of secrecy.

Still, she will be judged on her actions. My biggest problem — as the columnist who brought you Captain Beaujolais and hyphenhowe — will be coming up with a better nickname for the new commissioner than Cressida Dick.