Head of London police resigns following string of scandals
LONDON — The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, announced her resignation on Thursday after a string of controversies that undermined public confidence in the force and prompted a falling out between her and the city’s mayor.
Mayor Sadiq Khan had recently threatened to oust Dick from her role, saying she wasn’t doing enough to reform the Metropolitan Police, Britain’s largest police force, and tackle growing accusations of misogyny and racism within her ranks.
Khan said late Thursday it was clear the only way to overhaul the force urgently was to have “new leadership right at the top of the Metropolitan Police.”
Dick, who has headed the force since 2017 and is the first woman to lead Scotland Yard, said it was with “huge sadness” that it has become clear that Khan “no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue.”
“He has left me no choice but to step aside as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service,” she said in a statement. Dick, 61, added that she will stay in her role for a short period until a replacement is found.
A report last week by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the police watchdog, condemned misogyny, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment among a dozen officers, most of them based at central London’s Charing Cross police station. The report cited officers joking about rape and using other offensive language in social media messages, and said the incidents were part of a wider culture that can’t be blamed on a few “bad apples.”
Khan said last week he was “not satisfied” with Dick’s response to calls for change following scandals including the killing of a woman by a serving police officer and the behaviour of officers cited by the police watchdog.
He thanked Dick for her 40 years of policing service.
Dick faced intense pressure to quit last year after a police officer, Wayne Couzens, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard, who had been walking home at night in London. Everard’s murder by a serving officer shocked the country, and the police force’s subsequent handling of vigils and protests against her killing also came under heavy fire.
Dick acknowledged Thursday that the Everard case and others had “damaged confidence” in her force.