Boris wins control of the Met as police targets are scrapped
CITY?Hall yesterday threw its weight behind Theresa May’s decision to scrap policing targets and hand oversight of the Met to Boris Johnson.
The new home secretary said officers would no longer answer to “bureaucrats in Whitehall” but to a locally-elected individual.
In London, the Metropolitan Police Service will be directly accountable to Johnson, boosting the mayor’s powers significantly.
Deputy mayor Kit Malthouse told City A.M. policing in London had suffered because of
the “constant attempt by the Home Office to manage the whole of policing in the UK
from its bunker in Marsham Street”.
Malthouse added that City Hall would be able to improve policing in the capital even if the number of officers was cut, after the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) warned numbers would fall following the coalition’s austerity Budget.
“For years now, we’ve been having this stale argument about police numbers. But output and results are more important.?We can do it with fewer, better people,” he said.
“Officers spend a huge amount of time on form-filling, but the average copper wants to fight crime.”