In the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Caroline Pidgeon therefore asked the Met Commissioner to commit to stopping the closure of police stations – which are a core part of our frontline policing system and have been decimated.
Responding to Caroline Pidgeon's questions in the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Baroness Casey admitted she would expect the numbers of officers dismissed for misconduct to be "in the several hundreds".
Caroline said:
"Huge change is needed for the Met Police to become a service for Londoners that we can all have faith in."
Responding to the publication of Baroness Casey's review of the Metropolitan Police, which highlights institutional racism, sexism and homophobia, Caroline Pidgeon said:
This report is deeply upsetting and appalling to read.
The shocking details make it absolutely clear - the Met has failed women and failed Londoners. Beyond the institutional misogyny, the reports of deep-rooted racism and homophobia show little has changed in the Met since the 1999 Macpherson Report.
Caroline Pidgeon has written to the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner giving the Liberal Democrats' response to the Met's draft turnaround plan.
Caroline wrote:
Caroline's questions to the Mayor on the Metropolitan Police's response times for "lower urgency" 999 calls have shown that Londoners wait on average 3 hours, when the police should respond within 60 minutes – and in some boroughs, the wait is a lot longer.
As Mark Rowley was named as the Metropolitan Police's new Commissioner, Caroline Pidgeon said:
"I wish Mark Rowley well. London needs him to be a successful Commissioner, at a time when confidence in the Met is at a record low and it's just gone into special measures.
"There is no doubt that the scale of the challenge is immense, but the cultural and organisational failings in the Met cannot be solved by a change at the top alone.
Reacting to the Metropolitan Police being placed under special measures, Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and member of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee said:
Caroline Pidgeon has written to the Deputy Mayor for Policing, asking her to publish the legal advice she receives on the sale of police buildings like Teddington and Notting Hill Police Stations, and to commit to no further police station or front counter closures in London.
Caroline said:
Caroline Pidgeon has written to the Mayor of London, seeking assurances over the use of stop and search in London, and again calling for suspicionless stop and search to be banned.
Caroline said:
It remains my view that suspicionless stop and search should cease to be used. It is a practice which destroys community relations with the police. I have particular concerns over the Deputy Commissioner's record on this issue.
As Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services released its report into the Metropolitan Police's anti-corruption practices, Caroline Pidgeon said:
The report by HMIC into counter-corruption in the Met Police and other issues arising from the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report is damning. Urgent and fundamental change is required, particularly internal procedures for managing evidence and issuing warrant cards.
