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| Metropolitan police chief candidates promise to reform troubled force | Metropolitan police chief candidates promise to reform troubled force |
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| Leading candidates to be the next commissioner of the Metropolitan police are planning to pledge fresh reforms to Britain’s biggest force with the deadline for applicants closing at midday on Wednesday. | Leading candidates to be the next commissioner of the Metropolitan police are planning to pledge fresh reforms to Britain’s biggest force with the deadline for applicants closing at midday on Wednesday. |
| The race is wide open and a decision is expected by early next month on who will succeed Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. | The race is wide open and a decision is expected by early next month on who will succeed Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. |
| Likely to apply are Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, and Sara Thornton, currently president of the National Police Chiefs Council. Stephen Kavanagh, the chief constable in Essex and a Met veteran, is also a candidate. Cressida Dick, a former counter-terrorism chief who left the Met to join the Foreign Office is claimed by some to be the government’s favourite. | |
| The Guardian understands that Simon Byrne, chief constable in Cheshire, has also applied. He was brought into the Met by Hogan-Howe to shake up its performance and crime fighting. He served in the Met as assistant commissioner where he challenged police commanders on their crime-fighting performance. | The Guardian understands that Simon Byrne, chief constable in Cheshire, has also applied. He was brought into the Met by Hogan-Howe to shake up its performance and crime fighting. He served in the Met as assistant commissioner where he challenged police commanders on their crime-fighting performance. |
| Within policing circles, senior and informed sources have rated Rowley, Thornton, Kavanagh and Dick as frontrunners, with each having points in their favour and question marks against them. | Within policing circles, senior and informed sources have rated Rowley, Thornton, Kavanagh and Dick as frontrunners, with each having points in their favour and question marks against them. |
| The decision will technically be made by the Conservative home secretary, Amber Rudd, who must take into account the views of London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan. Downing Street usually has a significant say in the choice of Met commissioner, more so this time given Theresa May’s six-year tenure as home secretary where police reform was one of her biggest preoccupations. | The decision will technically be made by the Conservative home secretary, Amber Rudd, who must take into account the views of London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan. Downing Street usually has a significant say in the choice of Met commissioner, more so this time given Theresa May’s six-year tenure as home secretary where police reform was one of her biggest preoccupations. |
| Whoever gets the job has to make budget cuts of £400 and inherits a force with low morale and concerns about its performance. | Whoever gets the job has to make budget cuts of £400 and inherits a force with low morale and concerns about its performance. |
| Dick is highly regarded for her operational experience but left the Met amid strains at the top of the force. The big question mark against her is her role in overall charge of a 2005 Met operation that led police to shoot dead an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, whom they mistook for a suicide bomber. It is seen as one of the biggest catastrophes in British policing, but Dick’s supporters point out that a jury that found the Met guilty of health and safety failings went out of its way to say they attached no blame to Dick’s actions. | Dick is highly regarded for her operational experience but left the Met amid strains at the top of the force. The big question mark against her is her role in overall charge of a 2005 Met operation that led police to shoot dead an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, whom they mistook for a suicide bomber. It is seen as one of the biggest catastrophes in British policing, but Dick’s supporters point out that a jury that found the Met guilty of health and safety failings went out of its way to say they attached no blame to Dick’s actions. |
| The post of Met commissioner carries a salary of £270,648 plus benefits and will be a five-year appointment by royal warrant. The advert for the job says candidates should “show evidence of successfully leading transformational change in a challenging financial climate”. | The post of Met commissioner carries a salary of £270,648 plus benefits and will be a five-year appointment by royal warrant. The advert for the job says candidates should “show evidence of successfully leading transformational change in a challenging financial climate”. |
| It also says those wanting the role must have “an understanding of changing crime and threat patterns, and the protection of the most vulnerable”. The Met was heavily criticised by the official police inspectorate for being substandard in child protection. | It also says those wanting the role must have “an understanding of changing crime and threat patterns, and the protection of the most vulnerable”. The Met was heavily criticised by the official police inspectorate for being substandard in child protection. |
| For the first time, non-British police chiefs can apply, as long as they are from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the US. | |
| Hogan-Howe, the first commissioner in a decade to serve his full five-year term, announced in September his decision to stand down. He said it had nothing to do with criticism of the force’s handling of how it investigated child sex abuse claims against high-profile figures, which in November castigated the force. | Hogan-Howe, the first commissioner in a decade to serve his full five-year term, announced in September his decision to stand down. He said it had nothing to do with criticism of the force’s handling of how it investigated child sex abuse claims against high-profile figures, which in November castigated the force. |
| The two previous commissioners had resigned after the Met became embroiled in controversy, and in the last two selection processes – in 2009 and 2011 – the early favourite did not get the job. | The two previous commissioners had resigned after the Met became embroiled in controversy, and in the last two selection processes – in 2009 and 2011 – the early favourite did not get the job. |