A new era begins at the Met-Sir Mark time to root out the rot and support your officers.

Today, Monday 12 September 2022 sees quite a first for London. We enter a new era with King Charles III, we enter a new political phase with a new prime Minister, but we also see the start of a new boss for London’s police force. Sir Mark Rowley starts his job as the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service and will indeed have his work cut out from the on set.

The next few weeks will see the majority of his officers deployed across central London in preparations for HM the Queen’s state funeral, the biggest event our country has ever seen. Rest days, holidays, leave all cancelled, as the Met undertakes Operation London Bridge, with the help of officers from around the country who are making a trip to London to help the nation say goodbye to our much loved Queen.

But what lies in store for Sir Mark? We know that not a day goes by that the Met police are not in the headlines and much spoken about on social media by those that know very little about just how policing works.

One thing is for sure, with the amount of service Sir Mark has, he must surely know the next steps to take without being told nauseatingly so on a daily basis by politicians.

Changes do need to be made, everyone accepts that. Revolting conversations that took place by officers at Charing Cross police station must never happen again. Officers with such disgusting mentalities must not feel at home in the Met. Root them out and remove them.

Officers that commit domestic violence or sexual assaults cannot remain and must also be ousted from the Met. All things that the new Commissioner must tackle amongst many others.

However, there is another vital factor the new Met boss must now address. The Met has some of the best officers in the country, and has despite, what the media would like you to believe, the majority of the public’s support and they do want to see them out on our streets doing their job.

Yet officers often feel let down by the lack of support from their bosses. There are endless times when frontline officers are thrown to the wolves by the media and these officers know that the situations being autopsied by social media are not actually the way they are being described. They look to their bosses to step in and have their backs, but instead are met with a wall of silence.

Hence why morale is low, why officers feel let down and why officers look to leave a job they love doing. We recently saw a Commander come out and defend a situation, a move that saw endless officers jump for joy and hope and the tide is now turning.

Read the room Commanders and co, meet your officers, see what an amazing job they do on our streets everyday that gets no recognition and ultimately support them.

The Met has thousands of police officers whose job is so vital in our community, it also has amazing police chiefs who really have dedicated their lives to the job and are just as disillusioned by the current state of affairs.

Sir Mark, we wish you well and hope that you will now step up and be the leader these officers so desperately need.