Find a Met chief with real experience

I do hope the powers responsible for choosing a new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will seriously consider the qualities a person needs to be effective in the role, and not just appoint a successor to the incumbent after an exercise in box-ticking.

Too many senior officers have far too little actual on-the-ground experience, having been fasttracked into their positions or chosen for political reasons.

Successful policing cannot be achieved via focus groups, spreadsheets or university studies, and the capital has been badly served by others, including Cressida Dick. Her career should have ended when Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead after an officer mistook him for a suicide bomber during an operation led by Dick in 2005.

For years, too many officers with little experience have filled the senior ranks and it shows, resulting in the capital not being well served. And throughout the country, public money is wasted on the pointless Police and Crime Commissioners, who seem to serve no purpose whatsoever.

It is not too late but we must act now. No more political appointments or academics. Policing is, or should be, hands-on.

Maggie Morse, Brynamman, Dyfed