The head of the Metropolitan Police has stepped down after losing the London mayor’s support following a series of controversies in the force.

Dame Cressida Dick wanted to stay on and last Friday she emailed all officers urging them to speak out over bad behaviour, telling those who were prejudiced to “leave now”.

This is her letter:

“Enough is enough…

“For only the third time since I became Commissioner in 2017 I am writing to every member of the Met because I feel so angry that public confidence is being damaged by too many unacceptable instances of poor conduct, nasty and inappropriate behaviour and a lack of respect.

“Put simply, there is no room in the Met for discrimination or prejudice: racism, homophobia, sexism, or any type of hate or disrespect will not be tolerated. If this is you, I have a message: the Met does not want you. Leave now.

“You know by now that I will always seek to talk the achievements of the Met up and defend it and you from unwarranted criticism, to explain the complexity and challenges that you face.

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“However you will absolutely understand, I know, that it is impossible to defend the inexplicable and the indefensible as we have seen on too many occasions in the last year, and my job (and your job) is to condemn these shocking behaviours without hesitation.

“Over the last few months we have seen a depressing number of shameful cases that not only threaten public trust, confidence and consent, but also are drowning out the extraordinary achievements of this fantastic police service.

“We’ve seen huge progress in the reductions in violence on our streets; the hundreds of thousands of lives you’ve protected and saved; the dismantling of organised crime and county lines; the events you’ve policed and protected, all against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic. Brilliant work, overshadowed by appalling instances of utterly unprofessional conduct and criminality by colleagues.

“I know the vast majority of our officers and staff are dedicated and passionate about keeping London safe, and doing the right thing. I need you to do the right thing, now. That means being professional and calling out all bad behaviour or prejudice. To not do so, to turn away or ignore where standards fall, is a failure of responsibility.

“The public rightly demand high standards of our officers and staff, including when you are off duty. We are all more scrutinised than ever. And what you may regard as ‘private’ (in social media or WhatsApp, for example) can all too easily now and in the future become public.

“I know it takes courage to speak out. I want you to know you have my personal support to make yourself heard. Call it out, tell someone you trust, don’t let it continue. This is of course incredibly important for supervisors and leaders but it is equally important for every single one of us. Standing by is not an option.

“Each and every one of us must be actively against sexism, racism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination or abuse of trust. We must have zero tolerance. We must all take up the stand of ‘not in our Met’, to root out individuals who let us down, to identify toxic and unhealthy teams and bullies.

“You will remember in October last year that we set out the action we would take to rebuild trust with our communities. An important part of this action is my invitation to Baroness Casey of Blackstock to review our culture and standards.

“Baroness Casey will join us on Monday 7 February and has my full backing to be thorough in her search for detail, context and answers. I encourage you and your teams to engage with the review team: to share your positive experiences and identify where things need fixing.

“I hope you know how proud I am to be your Commissioner and I absolutely believe this is the world-leading police service in so many ways. I remain incredibly proud of the job you do every day, frequently at great personal cost, to keep London safe and to reduce violence. Thank you for your hard work often in extremely challenging situations.

“But, as I write, our reputation is tarnished and people’s confidence in us has fallen. This is serious and it is urgent. To lose public consent would be unthinkable. Action is needed now.

Enough is enough.

Cress

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