Dame Cressida Dick resigns

A search for a new Met chief after Dame Cressida Dick resigns after a recent report by Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the police watchdog into racist and sexist officers in London, discovering “disgraceful” misogyny, discrimination, bullying, and sexual harassment within the ranks of Met Police.

 

In the past, the career of Cressida Dick survived by saying she “was so sorry” after career-ending scandals of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met Police Officer, with a record of indecent exposure and a nickname of “the rapist”.

Announcing her departure, Dame Cressida said: “ It is clear that mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue. He has left me with no choice but to step aside as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service”.

A report into the 1987 murder of Daniel Morgan – the killer still remains unidentified -accused the force of institutional corruption. It found that the then- Assistant Commissioner Dame Cressida had initially refused to grant access to the police internal data system. She apologised and remained.

Racism accusations came from the mother of two women murdered in a park in Wembley, Mina Smallman believes police treated the disappearance and deaths of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry less urgently than if they had been white.

The disappearance of Richard Okorogheye, a teenager who was found dead two weeks after his mother reported him missing is also subject to a review by the IOPC.

Victims of police injustice wrote an open letter accusing Dame Cressida of “Presiding over a culture of incompetence and cover-up” which was signed by Baroness Lawrence whose son Stephen was murdered in a racist attack and Lady Brittan, whose home was raided when her husband Lord Brittan was falsely accused of child abuse.

Obviously, Dame Cressida is not personally responsible for the wrongs committed by her officers. But she was the head of the organisation that facilitated the crimes of Wayne Couzens.

Athlete Bianca Williams and her partner believe they were racially profiled when their car was stopped by a Met officer in Maida Vale, in July 2020, as the couple was handcuffed and separated from their baby sin. Ms. Williams said she thought her family had been targeted because “ we are black and we drive a Mercedes”.

Dame Cressida from Oxford was the head of the organisation which treated sexualised, violent, and discriminatory behaviour as “banter”.

Officers were found to have joked about rape and exchanged offensive social media messages, IOPC to make 15 recommendations.

Most officers investigated were police constables and based at Charing Cross Police Stations, the IOPC said. The Met said it was “deeply sorry”.

The inquiry launched in March 2018 into nine linked independent investigations concerning serving police officers from the Met.

The investigation began after an officer allegedly had sex with a vulnerable woman in a room inside a London police station, the IOPC said-although this allegation was never proven.

Of the 14 officers investigated, two were dismissed for gross misconduct and put on the barred list, preventing future employment with the police, another two resigned and several others faced disciplinary action the IOPC said.

IOPC regional director for London, Sal Naseem, described the behaviour as “disgraceful” and that it fell below the standards of the force, but he said the Met was working to change its cultural issues.

The officers were bullying and sexist. They were misogynistic and used the word “gay” as an insult. They made jokes about the Black Lives Matter movement and mosques and used derogatory words to describe disabled people.

Home Secretary Priti Patel described the officers as “sickening. The public rightly excepts the behaviour of the police to be beyond reproach – standards must be raised.”

The Met commissioner’s allies feel “She has been treated unfairly”.