MPA Chair responds to email about the Commissioner's communication strategy

11 March 2005

As one of his first acts as Commissioner, Ian Blair circulated a clear vision of how he wanted the MPS’s relationship with the people of London to develop. I fully support his communication strategy and was therefore very disappointed to read an email to the MPA from an extremely disgruntled MPS employee working in a drugs unit, writing under an assumed name, complaining about the strategy. This was my response:

I fully support the Commissioner’s communication strategy and was therefore very disappointed to read an email to the MPA from an extremely disgruntled MPS employee, complaining about the new strategy.

It was essential that the new Commissioner communicated his policing strategy to Londoners and MPS staff.

His important message is that the MPS wants to work together with Londoners to make our city safer for us all – policing with the support and consent of our communities will be more successful, and therefore more efficient and cost effective.

I certainly agree that money should not be wasted – but strongly contest that the Commissioner’s action did so.

Since the MPA has been in existence we have made savings of £240 million and increased police numbers by 5000.

We will be working with the Met on the Service Review which will examine every aspect of the Service. I am confident we will find further savings that will be ploughed back into front line policing – for example to fund more drug operations for your unit.

I commend the work undertaken by your units to target dealers and traffickers but dealers and traffickers need markets, and the middle class dinner party users are a growing market. Stripping the glamour away from recreational users and targeting them as criminals may bring home to them the sordid underbelly of the drug world and the cost in human misery that brings their drugs to their dinner tables.

As Chair of the MPA I want to know how MPS employees perceive the service and welcome an honest exchange of views with constructive discussion, but regret that you felt you had to remain anonymous.

For some people change is a problem rather than a challenge. I hope this was not the case for you and your colleagues and that your email reflected genuine concerns regarding your work.

We must all work harder to communicate to Londoners what we are doing and that we are determined to make a difference.

Len Duvall

The full text of the email is reproduced below:

Email

Sent: Wed 16/02/2005

The following comment was posted to the MPA Website.

Comment:

It is good that Len Duvall supports the Commissioner's communication strategy, because the loyal troops are distinctly unhappy - but what do we matter? I work in an office of approximately 70+ MPS officers and staff, and the overwhelming reaction to the letter that landed on everyone's desks was amused disbelief, summed up in the widespread comment "He's sent us each a letter to repeat exactly what he's told us several times over the Intranet about reducing paperwork and duplication. Ha Ha!". What next, assorted humorists asked, an SMT conference in Tahiti to discuss reducing travel costs?

Mr Duvall's reasoning to support the cost of the letters/slogan change etc. caused bemusement too. not so much the 'pivotal' nature of that extra word, but the idea that since a few thousand pounds is a small part of a £2.5 billion settlement means its OK to waste it. So...would a slap-up dinner for us all on MPS expenses would be OK since its only "a small proportion of £2.5 billion"? Much laughter. Not quite so much laughter, in fact a distinctly downbeat air when it was wondered how many of the drugs ops we've had curtailed lately through lack of money for surveillance (ask that question, MPA members) we could have run with that sort of spare change.

By the time the announcement that our drugs teams were to target middle class dinner-party recreational users (we generally chase drug addicts and traffickers) broke, I admit even the office jokers had gone very quiet, so Len Duvall can rest assured that that a message has certainly got across.

PS please forgive me for not sending this from my own pnn email, but a certain amount of professional self-preservation kicks in...i am not inventing or exaggerating anything in terms of my office, though I accept that other offices and better-briefed ACPO officers may think entirely differently. I just write as I heard.

Good luck

Posted by: Anonymous

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