Mayor’s priorities for policing are vague, lacking in detail and don't address falling public confidence

The Mayor of London needs to step up with far more ambitious plans for policing in the capital, is the key message he has been sent by the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, in her detailed submission responding to the Draft Police and Crime Plan for the capital from 2022 to 2025.

In her submission to the legally required consultation Caroline Pidgeon, a long standing member of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, set out the following key areas where the Mayor needs to step up:

  • Outlining clear actions to ensure women can trust and have confidence in the police, particularly amongst Black and minority ethnic women.
  • A bolder plan to tackle rising hate crime, especially after a year where every single category of hate crime increased in London.
  • Strengthening community policy, with the Mayor being urged to outline when the Met Police’s final Estate Strategy will be published and ensuring that when it is published, it contains a firm commitment to keeping all remaining front counters open, at the very least.
  • Introducing real transparency to the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which is failing to properly measure the success of its interventions.

Commenting on the Mayor’s Draft Police and Crime Plan, Caroline said:

“While the four key areas of focus are the right strategic priorities I fear that the Mayor does not provide a real plan to achieve them. A clear demonstration is the lack of real targets to match the performance of the Violence Reduction Unit, that was set up two and half years ago. Targeted and effective work is necessary to tackle teenage deaths which reached a record annual high for this century in 2021.

“Cutting through everything must be a far more ambitious plan to restore trust and confidence. Public confidence in the police and safer communities go hand in hand, yet sadly the Mayor provides no bold or original proposals on how falling public confidence will be reversed.

“Given MOPAC’s own data shows that confidence in the police has fallen consistently over the last four years from 69% in June 2017 to just 52% in September 2021 it is time the Mayor set out in detail how he plans to address the crisis in the low level of public confidence in the Met, which requires a fundamental shift in approach.”

Read Caroline's full response here.