Dame Cressida Dick to continue leading Metropolitan Police Service

In making her recommendation to Her Majesty The Queen, the Home Secretary has paid due regard to the views of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as is her statutory duty.

The extension means that Dame Cressida will continue to serve as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service until April 2024.

Priti Patel commented: “I’m pleased to announce that Dame Cressida will continue to lead the Metropolitan Police Service until April 2024 and wish to thank her for her service to date. This extension will provide continuity and stability as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and recruit 20,000 additional police officers.”

Patel added: “Londoners know that there is more work to be done to keep our capital safe, including by driving down violent crime, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Commissioner and the Mayor of London to protect the public.”

Sadiq Khan responded: “I support the Home Secretary’s decision to extend the Commissioner’s contract. This will provide the experienced and strong leadership we need as our city emerges from the pandemic.”

He continued: “The Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner has the most difficult policing job in the country, overseeing the safety of more than ten million people living, working in and visiting our global city. The last four-and-a-half years have also presented significant additional challenges for the Metropolitan Police, including terror attacks, the tragedy of Grenfell Tower, rising public order incidents and also policing the challenging COVID-19 restrictions across the last 18 months.”

Khan concluded: “It’s my role as the Mayor of London to both support the Commissioner and also hold her to account. I will continue to do so in order to ensure that we reduce serious violence in all its forms, while in parallel increasing trust and confidence in our police force among London’s diverse communities.”

Extraordinary challenges

Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said: “I am immensely honoured and humbled to have been asked to extend my time as Commissioner for a further two years. I’m proud to continue to serve my city.”

The Commissioner went on to state: “In the last four-and-a-half years, Metropolitan Police Service teams have dealt with some extraordinary challenges, including most recently in the pandemic, and delivered some fantastic results – critically so when it comes to reducing violent crime. In addition, we’ve grown and modernised.”

Further, the Commissioner observed: “I look forward to continuing to work with my dedicated and courageous colleagues and members of the public to create an even more visible, stronger and professional Metropolitan Police Service. We will strive to prevent and reduce violence and the crimes Londoners care most about, bring more criminals to justice and also protect, support and build the confidence of all our communities.”

In conclusion, the Commissioner said: “Every day across the capital, officers and police staff come to work focused on protecting people and making London safer. This is not only what the public expects and demands of us, but it’s also what inspired each of us to join the force and why, after more than 35 years in policing, I remain so passionate about my job. Londoners have my word that I will keep working as hard as I can for them and for this wonderful city that I love. I take the responsibilities I have been entrusted with extremely seriously.”

Key responsibilities

Working with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and partners across the criminal justice system, the Commissioner is responsible for:

*driving a reduction in crime in London

*bringing offenders to justice

*upholding public confidence in the force

The Commissioner is accountable to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London. The Commissioner also has national responsibilities, including continuing to ensure an effective nationwide response to terrorist threats.

The Home Secretary will continue to support the Commissioner, as well as other police leaders, by providing the resources and tools they need to protect the British public. Under the Government’s campaign to recruit 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023, 9,814 additional officers have joined forces across England and Wales as of 30 June 2021. This includes an additional 1,708 recruits at the Metropolitan Police Service.