Dismore questions Mayor over Met. Police Investigation Policy
At today’s Mayor’s Question Time, Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore AM asked London Mayor Sadiq Khan about the new Met Police Investigation Policy, which means that many crimes will go uninvestigated. (See video here)
Mr Dismore asked:
‘The Met. has issued directions that officers will not investigate crimes including public order offences, shoplifting and low-level assaults if officers are required to look at CCTV for more than 20 minutes; and that offences such as vandalism, vehicle crime and fuel theft will not be pursued if the cost of the damage or amount taken is less than £50. Were you consulted and do you agree with the policy?
‘I have now seen the Met’s Crime Assessment Policy documents which set out what crimes are to be assessed as ‘out’ for investigation, the scope of which is pretty concerning. What percentage of crimes reported to the police are now not going to be investigated further?
‘Is this policy an operational decision by senior police officers or a strategic decision which should have been taken by yourself via MOPAC, because due to Conservative Government imposed budget cuts only serious crimes will now be investigated, and following the laid down crime assessment principles and flow chart it looks to me like most crimes will not be investigated at all, being assessed as ‘out’?
‘Police officers want to protect the public by preventing and deterring crimes from taking place and solving them when they do. Do you think imposing compulsory limitations like these on officers’ investigations risks appearing to raise the white flag, damaging police morale on the one hand; and on the other undermining public confidence, discouraging Londoners from reporting crime in the knowledge or belief it will be screened out and not investigated?’
The Mayor said that the police were having to do more with less, due to the Government’s failure to fund the police properly with London having a growing population. We have lost 1/3rd of police staff, 2/3rds of PCSOs, 114 front counters and further savings are needed. We are running out of options. With the Government not funding inflation or pay rises, tough choices are made even more difficult.
The decisions on policy are taken by the Commissioner with the Mayor’s full backing of her professional judgement. The Mayor cannot make up the entirety of lost Government funding. The policy came in, in September last year. Triaging is not new. The policy gives an honest and transparent response with an early and realistic communication to victims. It is too early to say how many crimes are likely to be affected, but the public should report all crimes and we have made it easier to do so, for example through the internet or by phone.
ENDS
Notes:
- Andrew Dismore is the London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden
- The crime assessment policy can be found here.
- A flowchart of the decision process can be found here.
- List of mandatory crimes can be found here.
