Metropolitan Police Authority's 'significant achievements' in first year

38/01
14 June 2001

The Metropolitan Police Authority, established just under one year ago to maintain an efficient and effective police service for the Metropolitan Police District, has achieved 'considerable improvements' in policing, Chair Toby Harris said at its annual meeting today.

He said:

"The existence of the Authority provides Londoners with a regime of local democratic accountability for policing that previously did not exist.

"We have the ability, indeed the vital function, of making the case for London's policing.

"The new regime also means that for the first time in its more than 170 year history, the Met now has to be accountable in public, via the MPA's committees, which include professional standards and performance monitoring, and financial planning and best value, and via our rigorous budget process.

"Members of the Authority are able to scrutinise and support the work of the Met at every level, and you can be assured that we take this essential role very seriously."

Toby Harris said that the MPA's most notable success had been the integral part it played in working closely with the Mayor, the London assembly, the Commissioner and others to secure the biggest budget in the history of the Met – more than £2 billion.

This represented a substantial boost in resources for policing in London and should result in significant improvements.

Specific developments funded by the budget include the recruitment of 1,050 extra police officers, working towards the overall total of 26,650 by the end of the financial year, with the additional officers being deployed in the boroughs, not in central command units.

Toby Harris said:

"The people of London have told us they want to see more visible policing on our streets and we are delivering just that."

Other developments brought about by the budget boost include:

• the improvement in pay and conditions for civil staff to aid recruitment and retention and release 200 officers for operational duties, including an increase of £22.2 million in the civil staff pay budget for the year up 2001/02;
• the modernisation of information systems, funding of the Diversity Directorate which investigates race and other hate crimes, funding for the Serious Crime Group, continuation of volume crime initiatives, increased DNA testing leading to the improvement in murder clear-ups;
• the MPA has a statutory duty to consult with Londoners. Important consultations carried out in the last year were the MPA's Policing and Performance Plan for 2001/02 and Recommendation 61 of the Report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, relating to the issue of whether a record should be made by police officers of all 'stops'.

Another notable achievement during the year was the MPA involvement in securing the introduction of free rail travel for police officers within a 70-mile radius of London.

But Toby Harris also highlighted areas of continuing concern to the Authority. He said:

"We still have to address the issue of diversity in the Met, and substantially increase the numbers of minority ethnic officers in the service.

"We must challenge the disproportionate use of stop and search powers, which sees police stopping four times more black people than white people and twice as many Asians.

"Recruitment and retention of officers is a major issue for us.

"We must speed up the recruitment process and ensure it does not discriminate intentionally or unintentionally against people from minority ethnic backgrounds and reduce the time it takes from accepting an application to putting that person on a training course. Once we have recruited officers, we need to be able to hang onto them.

"And we will be encouraging the Met to accept people who would make excellent police officers whether or not they have a tattoo or their religion dictates a certain style of dress. The introduction of the hajib headress for Muslim women officers is to be greatly welcomed."

He added:

"So, the workload is considerable, but our priorities are clear. It will take time to achieve everything we want to achieve. But we must press on, for the sake of the people of London who expect us to deliver a more effective and efficient police service, and a safer city."

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