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The commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Provider in London introduced on Thursday that she would step down, below drive from the mayor over stories of bullying, misogyny and racism at the power.
In a observation, the commissioner, Cressida Dick, made transparent that she had misplaced the beef up of London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, lower than two weeks after a document from England’s professional police watchdog described London cops robotically making jokes about rape and exchanging racist messages.
Ms. Dick’s management had additionally come below intense scrutiny after the abduction, rape and homicide of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London lady, via a Metropolitan Police Provider officer in March 2021. The killing fueled broader considerations about misogyny inside of policing, and violence in opposition to girls and women.
“It’s with large unhappiness that following touch with the mayor of London nowadays, it’s transparent that the mayor now not has enough self belief in my management to proceed,” Ms. Dick mentioned in her observation on Thursday. “He has left me no selection however to step apart as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Provider.”
At Mr. Khan’s request, Ms. Dick, 61, mentioned she had agreed to stick on for a “brief duration” whilst the carrier transitioned to a brand new commissioner.
Mr. Khan mentioned on Thursday that he had made transparent to Ms. Dick remaining week “the size of the alternate I imagine is urgently required to rebuild the accept as true with and self belief of Londoners within the Met and to root out the racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny that also exists.”
“I’m really not happy with the commissioner’s reaction,” he mentioned in a observation.
“On being knowledgeable of this, Dame Cressida Dick has mentioned she might be status apart,” Mr. Khan persisted. “It’s transparent that the one strategy to begin to ship the size of the alternate required is to have new management proper on the best of the Metropolitan Police.”
A onetime beat cop within the town’s West Finish, Ms. Dick was the first lady to guide Scotland Backyard in its 188-year historical past when she used to be appointed in 2017.
A graduate of Oxford and Cambridge, she led the police power thru a tumultuous duration that integrated a terrorist assault on London Bridge and close to Borough Marketplace that killed 8 other folks in 2017, a devastating fireplace that 12 months in Grenfell Tower, a high-rise residential development, that killed 72 other folks and, extra not too long ago, large-scale protests over regulation enforcement practices.
“I’m extremely happy with my crew and all they’ve accomplished,” Ms. Dick mentioned. “Since Day 1, tackling violence in all its paperwork has been my No. 1 precedence.”
However she added: “The homicide of Sarah Everard and lots of different terrible instances not too long ago have, I do know, broken self belief on this unbelievable police carrier. There may be a lot to do — and I do know that the Met has became its complete consideration to rebuilding public accept as true with and self belief.”
After the police watchdog document used to be issued, the police carrier mentioned that the movements detailed inside of it did “now not constitute the values” of the power. However Mr. Khan advised the BBC this week that he sought after Ms. Dick “to win again the accept as true with and self belief that’s been each knocked and shattered due to those instances.”
On Thursday, Mr. Khan thanked Ms. Dick for her “40 years of devoted public carrier,” and her paintings in lowering violent crime. He mentioned he would paintings with Priti Patel, the British house secretary, at the appointment of a brand new commissioner.
In a observation, Ms. Patel thanked Ms. Dick for her devotion to public carrier and mentioned that, as the primary feminine police commissioner, Ms. Dick “exemplified the increasingly more various nature of our police.”
“She will be the first to mention she has held the function all the way through difficult occasions; but for almost 5 years she has undertaken her tasks with a steadfast willpower to protective our capital town and its other folks — together with all the way through the unparalleled duration of the pandemic,” Ms. Patel mentioned.
Boris Johnson, the British top minister, mentioned in a statement that Ms. Dick had “served her nation with nice willpower and difference over many a long time.”
“I thank her for her function protective the general public and making our streets more secure,” he mentioned.
