Our work

The Authority’s main duty is to monitor and scrutinise the MPS and to ensure London has the police service it deserves.

The Authority must also:

• increase community confidence and trust in London’s police service;
• secure continuous improvement in the way policing is provided in London;
• publish an Annual Report of the MPS & MPA and a Policing Plan in consultation with London’s communities and set priorities for the forthcoming year;
• set policing targets and monitors performance regularly against those targets;
• participate in the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in each London borough or ensure that arrangements exist to enable community engagement with local police;
• oversee the appointment and discipline of senior police officers;
• oversee formal inquiries and the implementation of their recommendations;
• set, manage and be accountable for the police budget;
• publish annual plans and accounts;
• operate the London Independent Custody Visiting Scheme.

MPA Scrutinies

The MPA has a duty to monitor MPS performance and ensure continuous improvement in the service they provide to the people of London. To help carry out this responsibility the Authority undertakes in-depth projects, or scrutinies, into specific aspects of MPS work.

• More about Scrutinies

MPA Estate Management

The MPA is currently reviewing its major improvement programme intended to provide modern facilities for London’s police service. Growth in officer and staff numbers, the need for the estate to accommodate technological and operational change, and the fact that many buildings are old, poorly designed and in the wrong location, necessitate urgent action.

• More about estate management

Association of Police Authorities

The authority contributes to the national work undertaken by the Association of Police Authorities (APA). by:

• influencing the national policing agenda on behalf of police authorities;
• lobbying government and others;
• developing guidance and advice to assist authorities.

Appointment and discipline of senior MPS officers

The MPA is responsible for the appointment of senior Met officers including the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and all other Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) ranks.

We are also responsible for the discipline of senior officers.

Notable achievements

The MPA has increased the numbers of officers and staff working across the capital. There are now record numbers of Metropolitan Police Service officers and staff: over 34,000 police officers, the highest number ever, now work to keep the capital safe.

The MPA and Met were the first police service to introduce Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) – over 4,000 now provide extra public reassurance and tackle anti-social behaviour.

The MPA promotes equality and diversity within the police service and is working in partnership to ensure all those who live and work in the capital are treated fairly and with respect.

The MPA is committed to community engagement in every borough and has a set up a mechanism for local people to speak to their borough command about policing issues. In most boroughs this takes the form of Borough Community and Police Engagement Groups (CPEGs). In other boroughs consultative mechanisms and the way that local communities speak to their police are being reviewed or developed.

'The ‘MPA and MPS Community Engagement 2010 – 2013’’ outlines what Londoners can expect of the MPA and MPS in regards to community engagement. The commitment lists a number of principles explaining how the MPA and MPS will improve and develop our community engagement work.

The MPA Domestic and Sexual Violence Board has completed its individual reviews of all 32 London boroughs. The DSVB has also scrutinised the initial response from call handlers, first response officers and front counters to domestic and sexual violence, as well as the MPS response to disabled and older victims.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback