Bit of arse covering for him though as he was party to her recruitment.
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Have you never recruited someone and then subsequently realised it was a mistake Tim? If so, you are lucky.
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Yes I have but we’re talking about the most senior police officer in the UK and not (in my situation) junior office staff. CD had ‘baggage’ so her appointment came with risk and Khan as well as the Home Secretary were fully aware of that.
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I don’t want to appear to be defending the indefensible. Those occurrences that have soiled the reputation of the Met are just that. Would they have happened under a different Commissioner? Hypothetical, but, in my view, yes. Did anyone resign after Shipman, Beverley Allitt, Deepcut, Clapham, Purley, dare I say Grenfell Tower? I doubt it.
Your views are valid. I worked in a London Borough bordering Kent, and some officers did have the view that the Met was a superior service.
I don’t know if her resigning will help at all. I do believe that Khan was in self-preservation mode when he refused to allow her time to change things. But how to do that? Show me someone with a system that can weed out unsuitable applicants and they will be a millionaire overnight. At a time of low unemployment I believe the quality of applicants for the police falls.
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I think that you are probably quite correct on that point. However, I do also think that a recruitment system that seems to have desire to factor in ethnicity and gender is bound to have problems. I admit to being unaware of the current applicant vetting criteria, but would hope that it does include at least a glance at an applicants online presence in respect of social media.
When I joined, not only were my parents and brothers vetted as well as myself, but I had to provide two references from respected members of the local community who knew my family.
The real problem at present is not the standard of current recruitment, but rather that which was the standard ten to fifteen years ago, as it is now those past recruits who hold present day supervisory rank. Where an organisation has the appearance of institutionalised poor standards, then it is a shake up of the supervisors that is needed. Spend the next three years transferring in officers of the rank of Inspector and above from other police forces up and down the country, and perhaps the lower echelons can be kicked into shape. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would be effective.
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besides being a fellow Mancunian, Sir Robert Mark did a splendid job reforming the Met.
Another was John Stevens - a damn good thief taker in his own right and earned massive respect from the rank and file.
The Met needs Commissioners of this quality and standing to make any progress in the future.
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What do they have in common? They are from previous time when moral compass still worked.
Sadly it would take one amazing person to untangle such a mess today being politically pulled in different directions at the same time.
Gene Hunt, should get the job, he’d liven things up, or Jack Regan.
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