Dame Cressida Dick to step down

[brad465]

Couldn't come soon enough:

Cressida Dick to step down as Metropolitan Police chief

A recent report into racist and sexist officers in London was one of many controversies she faced.

www.bbc.co.uk

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick is leaving her role, the BBC has been told.

It comes just hours after Dame Cressida insisted she had "absolutely no intention" of stepping down.

Dame Cressida, who has been in the role for four years, has faced multiple controversies during her career.

Last week, the police watchdog reported "disgraceful" misogyny, discrimination and sexual harassment among some Met PCs.

 

[alex397]

Excellent news.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

She has stepped down

https://twitter.com/search?q=cressida+dick+resigns&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch

BREAKING: Cressida Dick Resigns – BBC https://order-order.com/2022/02/10/breaking-cressida-dick-resigns-bbc

 

[dgl]

And suposedly "pushed" by Sadiq Khan after he told her he has no confidence in her anymore.

 

[ABB125]

Quite a change to go from "I'm not going anywhere" to "I've resigned" in a few hours!

 

[brad465]

Quite a change to go from "I'm not going anywhere" to "I've resigned" in a few hours!

It's not uncommon though, there have been countless football managers who said "I'm not going anywhere" a few hours or so before the club board dismisses them.

 

[75A]

Good riddance in my opinion.

 

[duncanp]

Quite a change to go from "I'm not going anywhere" to "I've resigned" in a few hours!

Boris Johnson needs to remember this when the police report into "Partygate" comes out.

Good riddance to Cressida Dick**** though.

 

[GS250]

I guess there are so many angles that you can attack her from.

Mind you...being in charge of the Police in a City like London....you are simply never going to win.

 

[adrock1976]

Perhaps next for Dick is to be stripped of her gong for failing to run the Met in a competent manner?

After all, the former big gaffer of the Royal Bank of Scotland Fred Goodwin got stripped of his knighthood not long after the economic crisis happened in 2008, resulting in the RBS to be bailed out.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

When ever some one in a top office job goes, the real question is... will the replacement be better than the last one?
We will never know until it's too late of course.

I think the real issue is that the system is somewhat broken, not the leaders.
The police should be run jointly by several top police officers (to stop this fall-guy culture) and members of the public in concerned groups such as neighbourhood watches, business leaders, and residents' associations.

I've heard a lot of criticism of Cressida Dick, but much of it is un-warrented, it's a difficult job leading so many officers, in a force with a long history, and which does have it's problems.
Has she really made bad choices with the options and information she had?

 

[duncanp]

Since she is 61 years old, no doubt she will retire and get a good pension, at the taxpayers expense of course.

Meanwhile, someone else will have to clean up the mess she has left behind.

 

[AlterEgo]

Amazing how she repeatedly failed upward.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Feb 2022 ==

She has stepped down

https://twitter.com/search?q=cressida+dick+resigns&ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Esearch

She is still in post for a short while until a new commissioner is appointed.

 

[DarloRich]

Dick's out after cock ups?

 

[brad465]

Dick's out after cock ups?

Hehehe

 

[birchesgreen]

I hope the replacement also has an amusing name

 

[seagull]

Hmm. Lucy D'Orsi doesn't have quite the same puntential as a name.

 

[brad465]

I hope the replacement also has an amusing name

Why don't we get the boss of F1 Team Aston Martin to run the Met, his name is Mike Krack.

 

[Darandio]

Why don't we get the boss of F1 Team Aston Martin to run the Met, his name is Mike Krack.

Amusingly name candidates is worth a thread in itself. Personally i'd move from Cressida Dick to Dick Pound of Olympic committee fame.

 

[transportphoto]

Mind you...being in charge of the Police in a City like London....you are simply never going to win.

I feel that this comment nails it on the head. Very few people step into the role of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and come out unscathed.

It would appear that a lot of people in the Policing sphere have respect for Dame Dick - it feels a shame that she has become another political scapegoat.

Edited to add further thought… lots of similarities to the case of Dany Cotton (former Commissioner of London Fire Brigade) who stepped down in a political storm post Grenfell.

And further edit to add some quotations from people in support of Cressida:

Dame Cressida Dick cares deeply about the people of London and the Met’s mission to keep Londoners safe. We owe her a debt of gratitude for her four decades of dedicated service and huge contribution to policing and public service.

(Source: https://twitter.com/mhewittnpcc/status/1491886541601447937?s=21)

You will be missed Ma’am. A great leader & public servant for 40yrs #thankyouforyourservice #bigloss

(Source: https://twitter.com/mpscityairport/status/1492044022088622080?s=21)

Another incredible and capable (first) female commissioner of an emergency service in London, highly respected by her workforce, used as a political scapegoat.

A sad day.

(Source: https://twitter.com/jjsharpers/status/1491855064331337734?s=21)

 

[DarloRich]

Amusingly name candidates is worth a thread in itself. Personally i'd move from Cressida Dick to Dick Pound of Olympic committee fame.

Sadly I feel the former Irish Foreign minster Dick Spring may be to old for the job.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Feb 2022 ==

it feels a shame that she has become another political scapegoat.

But surely her position has been untenable for some time. I am sure the police themselves liked her but the public have lost confidence following a series of PR disasters for the Met.

 

[brad465]

But surely her position has been untenable for some time. I am sure the police themselves liked her but the public have lost confidence following a series of PR disasters for the Met.

It was untenable long before she even started as Commissioner, the 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes operation she commanded should have ended her police career.

 

[Strathclyder]

The only thing I'm really surprised by is that it hasn't happened before now in all honesty. Not that she should've been anywhere near the position in the first place given the utterly shambolic (to put it mildly) Jean Charles de Menezes operation she was in charge of back in 2005. I doubt anyone will envy the person that will take over, given the mess that they'll have to try and clean up.

 

[brad465]

The only thing I'm really surprised by is that it hasn't happened before now in all honesty. Not that she should've been anywhere near the position in the first place given the utterly shambolic (to put it mildly) Jean Charles de Menezes operation she was in charge of back in 2005. I doubt anyone will envy the person that will take over, given the mess that they'll have to try and clean up.

I seriously doubt any efforts to clean the organisation up will happen. Much of the action will require political intervention that many will see as biased interference, whether or not it that is the case in reality (this was one reason Blair was unable to sort the Met out). I also don't see the current Government wanting to reform the Met in a way that stop the Government trying to act above the law, as evident in the belated investigations in No.10 parties, except when it was favourable to delay the Sue Gray report.

 

[Strathclyder]

I seriously doubt any efforts to clean the organisation up will happen. Much of the action will require political intervention that many will see as biased interference, whether or not it that is the case in reality (this was one reason Blair was unable to sort the Met out). I also don't see the current Government wanting to reform the Met in a way that stop the Government trying to act above the law, as evident in the belated investigations in No.10 parties, except when it was favourable to delay the Sue Gray report.

Frustratingly, I can't disagree with any of this. You'd think I'd know better than to be so painfully naive at this point, but it's a trap I keep on falling back into.

 

[nanstallon]

Long overdue, but let's hope that the new broom really will sweep out the Augean stables that the police have become. They have totally forfeited public goodwill, and I have little but contempt for the police these days.

 

[deltic]

Long overdue, but let's hope that the new broom really will sweep out the Augean stables that the police have become. They have totally forfeited public goodwill, and I have little but contempt for the police these days.

If you think the Met is bad now I hate to think what you thought of it 30+ years ago. Huge corruption scandals, open racism, a law unto themselves and their attitude during the miner's strike was a real eye opener to their colleagues from other police forces - one quote from a senior Cleveland police office "I was appalled at the conduct of a number of officers, generally members of the Metropolitan police who we described as the Banana Squad – all bent and yellow,"

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It was untenable long before she even started as Commissioner, the 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes operation she commanded should have ended her police career.

It wasn't so much the shooting itself that made Dick look bad, after all the country was on high-alert after the 7/7 attacks, and I certainly wouldn't place responsibility for de Menezes' death solely on the shoulders of the officer who actually shot him, either.

What showed Ms. Dick's true colours were the repeated lies in the aftermath: that de Menezes had vaulted the ticket gates (he hadn't) or that he was dressed inappropriately for the weather (being used to Brazilian weather, he was wearing a light jacket).

That she managed to fail all the way upwards from that incident says all you need to know about policing in the UK.

 

[75A]

What showed Ms. Dick's true colours were the repeated lies in the aftermath: that de Menezes had vaulted the ticket gates (he hadn't) or that he was dressed inappropriately for the weather (being used to Brazilian weather, he was wearing a light jacket).

That she managed to fail all the way upwards from that incident says all you need to know about policing in the UK.

Exactly, nothing has changed at all over the last 30 years, nor do I expect to anytime soon.

 

[AlterEgo]

I feel that this comment nails it on the head. Very few people step into the role of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and come out unscathed.

It would appear that a lot of people in the Policing sphere have respect for Dame Dick - it feels a shame that she has become another political scapegoat.

Edited to add further thought… lots of similarities to the case of Dany Cotton (former Commissioner of London Fire Brigade) who stepped down in a political storm post Grenfell.

And further edit to add some quotations from people in support of Cressida:

Oh please. She was totally unsuitable for the job before she got it and the endorsement of other coppers counts for nothing. The Met stinks.