Stop obsessing over officer numbers, Met chief pleads as he says budget ‘heading off a cliff’
18 September 2024, 19:00 | Updated: 18 September 2024, 19:21
The country’s most senior police chief has begged politicians to stop obsessing over officer numbers as he claimed ‘political rhetoric’ has ‘broken the foundations’.
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Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, claimed in a speech last night that budget cuts and growing demand have also made it more difficult to improve their work.
It was revealed that the Home Office has essentially ‘fined’ the Met £90million over the past two years for failing to meet officer recruitment targets.
Sir Mark told the John Harris Memorial Lecture: “We are working hard to reform but are doing so in a context where our budget is heading off a cliff.
“Commissioners and Mayors have understandably pulled every lever possible to balance the books. We can do that no longer.
“[We need to fix] our foundations, which have been broken by a combination of budget cuts, growing demand and a politically driven rhetoric that the measure of police capability is simply officer numbers.
“Believe me, officers are as frustrated with our imperfections as the public are.
"But their commitment, and the commitment of thousands like them, is the reason I love policing. They are the reason why I know policing will, with some help, succeed."
Sir Mark also said if funding models don’t change, he expects the Met will need to close “up to half” of its remaining police stations, because “believe it or not”, they only have funding to refurbish them every 120 years.
The lecture, which was given alongside his deputy Dame Lynne Owens, was delivered to mark two years since they moved in to take over the leadership of the UK’s biggest force.
In that time, they’ve announced plans to reform the way it works, with their ‘A New Met for London Plan’.
Part of that focused on returning more officers to neighbourhoods, but Deputy Commissioner Lynne Owens claims their attempts to do that have been hampered by protests.
“The Israel-Gaza protests, Just Stop Oil and Notting Hill Carnival alone have taken nearly 70,000 shifts over the last year. Just think. 70,000 shifts,” she said.
“That’s the equivalent of over half a million officer hours, often taken from visible policing on our streets, which is so valued by our communities.”
Sir Mark Rowley also warned against “accusations and slurs” which are made against the police on social media, saying it puts them more at risk of attacks.
Last week, the Home Secretary revealed an average of 125 officers are being assaulted every day now in England and Wales.
The Commissioner said: “We should be very clear: when people, be they politicians or the public, throw accusations and slurs at the police, they put them in danger by emboldening thugs.
“We police without fear or favour, and for everyone. It does no one any favours for this to be deliberately undermined to drive clicks on social media.”
He added: “The national federation survey earlier this year showed that 95% of officers said that how the police are treated by the Government has a negative effect on their morale. That is just one indication of how they feel.”
The John Harris Memorial Lecture is an annual speech hosted by the Police Foundation, which is named after Lord Harris of Greenwich, their founder.
