Cressida Dick’s last day: Londoners saw scandals, racism, sexism and homophobia under her watch, says Mayor Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan has said he is not “going to hide from the fact” he lost confidence in outgoing Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick.
Speaking in Barnet, north London, the London mayor said: “In the recent past, she’s worked with many others to help us reduce violent crime but I’m not going to hide from the fact that I lost confidence in her.
“I’m not going to hide from the fact that we’ve had in our city a series of devastating scandals, overt racism, sexism, discrimination, homophobia, we’ve had trust and confidence from Londoners in the police service at rock bottom.”
Sadiq Khan today
“It’s one of the reasons why I lost confidence in her and it’s one of the things I’ll be looking for in a new commissioner, how they will address some of these serious issues that, frankly speaking, the current commissioner failed to address.”
Asked about the timeline of appointing a successor for Dame Cressida Dick, Sadiq Khan said it could take “a number of months”.
The London mayor said: “I’ll be working closely with the Home Secretary to make sure we get the widest possible pool of candidates applying, we want the best possible candidate who is successful.
“Somebody who understands the challenges we face and also recognises the uniqueness of London, what a wonderful city we are, and how important it is to police by consent, to work with Londoners to restore confidence with women and girls in our city, but also minority communities, particularly black communities as well.”