My nose for crime can’t sniff out cannabis, Met chief admits
AS BRITAIN’S most senior police officer, Cressida Dick has always had a nose for detecting crime.
But the head of Scotland Yard has admitted her skills are lacking in one particular area – her complete inability to detect the potent smell of cannabis.
Despite starting her police career on the beat in Soho in the early Eighties, Ms Dick said she has always struggled to identify when someone near her is smoking a joint.
Her admission, which she made during an appearance on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, had prompted much hilarity among her colleagues, she said.
Ms Dick, who took floral soap as her luxury to the desert island, said: “My colleagues think it is hilarious that I simply cannot smell, ever, the smell of cannabis, so I am hopeless in that respect.”
Ms Dick became the first female and first openly gay Commissioner of the Met when she took up the role in 2017. She told the presenter, Lauren Laverne, the force was far more inclusive than it had been when she started her career.
She said: “When I joined there was probably one woman in the CID office and one in the crime squad and just two of us on a team of about 40 or 50. I think particularly perhaps for gay men it has changed enormously in that time, but I would be naive if I thought it was plain sailing for everybody.
“What I can say is that if I take you to see my response teams there are people of all shapes and sizes and lots of lots of openly gay people and the guys and girls just don’t think twice about it. I want everybody to thrive. I want people from all backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, sexuality, gender, whatever it is, to feel the Met is their Met and that it is a safe and good place to come to work, and I think it is.”
Ms Dick, whose partner, Helen, is also a serving Met officer, said she did not dwell on the importance of being a gay senior officer. “For me, and I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, but I think it is one of the least interesting things about me. I happen to love Helen, she is my partner, on we go.”
Ms Dick, who studied at Oxford, started off working as an accountant, but said she quickly realised it was not for her. She later worked in a fish and chip shop. She said: “I really enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy going home smelling of fat but I really enjoyed anyone and everybody coming in, and occasionally late at night quite lively.”
Desert Island Discs is on Radio 4 on Sunday, Feb 10 at 11.15am.
‘It [the Met] has changed enormously, but I would be naive if I thought it was plain sailing for everybody’