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Cressida Dick appointed first female Met police commissioner Cressida Dick appointed first female Met police commissioner
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Cressida Dick will be the next commissioner of the Metropolitan police, it has been announced. Cressida Dick is to become the first ­female head of the Metropolitan police, completing a remarkable career comeback by vowing to reform Britain’s largest police force.
She will be the first woman to lead the Met. Dick, 56, now works at the Foreign Office and was formerly the Met’s head of counter-terrorism. The former senior Scotland Yard officer – who had quit policing to take up a job in the Foreign Office – won the support of the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, to take on the running of a police force that dates back to 1829.
The choice was made on Wednesday after candidates who had applied for the role of Britain’s top police officer were interviewed by a panel that included the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan. Flanked by the Conservative and Labour politicians, Dick, 56, stood outside New Scotland Yard to say it was “an extraordinary privilege” and that she was “very humbled” to be chosen for the post, which pays £270,000 a year.
The home secretary made the final decision but by law had to take into account the views of the London mayor. Sources close to Khan said that of the four candidates for the job, it was Dick who outlined the best vision for reforming the Met while keeping the capital safe, during two rounds of interviews. The source added Dick “accepts that there needs to be changes”.
Dick said she was “thrilled and humbled” by her appointment, which shattered a glass ceiling as old as the Met itself. She said: “This is a great responsibility and an amazing opportunity. I’m looking forward immensely to protecting and serving the people of London and working again with the fabulous women and men of the Met. Thank you so much to everyone who has taught me and supported me along the way.” Her ascent to the top job is all the more remarkable because her career in policing had seemed over. She will replace Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, with whom there had been tensions which led to her moving from the role she loved as the Met’s head of counter-terrorism and departing from the force.
Dick’s rise to the top of policing comes despite the controversy around her role in the 2005 operation in which an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, was shot dead by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber. A jury at a criminal trial in 2007 exonerated her of any personal blame, but some thought her role in the incident could block her becoming leader of the Met. Dick also becomes first commissioner of the Met in the modern era to get the job despite never having led a police force previously. She had applied and failed to get the top job with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, eventually landing a role as a director general in the Foreign Office.
A statement issued on Wednesday on behalf of the De Menezes family by his cousin Patricia Armani said: “We have serious concerns about the appointment … At the helm of the police on that fateful day when Jean was killed was Cressida Dick. The message of today’s appointment is that police officers can act with impunity.” The incoming commissioner faces a budget crisis, with the Met having to save hundreds of millions of pounds whilst contending with political and public pressure to maintain officer numbers on the streets and amid findings from the official police inspectorate that it is struggling to deal with regular crimes.
The Met is Britain’s biggest force, accounting for about a quarter of spending on policing in England and Wales. It was founded in 1829 and as well as covering London it has national functions including counter-terrorism, and diplomatic and VIP protection. Dick is regarded within policing as being one of the best of her generation, operationally, with a strong sense of ethics. Dick will have to be resworn in as a police officer, a legal requirement of being commissioner. Hogan-Howe formally steps down next week after five-and-a half years in charge, and his deputy Craig Mackey may fill the vacancy until Dick can start work.
The new commissioner replaces Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the first Met commissioner since 2005 to complete a full five-year term in office. Before him, Sir Ian Blair and Sir Paul Stephenson had both resigned mid-term after being dogged by controversy. But Dick has also been associated with one of the biggest disasters in policing, when in 2005 she commanded an operation that saw an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, mistaken by officers for a wanted terrorist and shot to death.
The new commissioner faces a tightening financial climate, some crime types rising and the challenge of keeping the capital safe from a severe and enduring threat. His family immediately criticised the appointment. Patricia Armani, de Menezes’ cousin, said they doubted Dick could command public confidence: “We have serious concerns about the appointment … At the helm of the police on that fateful day when Jean was killed was Cressida Dick. The message of today’s appointment is that police officers can act with impunity”.
Dick was born, brought up and went to school in Oxford, and studied at university there, at Balliol College. For a short time she worked at an accountancy firm before joining the Met in 1983 as a constable in the West End. A jury at a criminal trial in 2007 had exonerated her of any personal blame but some thought her role in the incident could block her becoming leader of the Met.
In 1995 she transferred to the Thames Valley force where she continued her rise through the ranks, returning to Scotland Yard in 2001 with a master’s degree in criminology. Rudd hailed Dick’s appointment and set out some of the challenges faced: “She now takes on one of the most demanding, high-profile and important jobs in UK policing, against the backdrop of a heightened terror alert and evolving threats from fraud and cybercrime. The challenges ahead include protecting the most vulnerable, including victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
Her reputation as a reformer was forged in the Met’s diversity directorate, formed after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry had damned the force as institutionally racist. She became known as a brilliant operational leader, cool under the most extreme pressure, when she led Operation Trident, the unit policing gun crime, particularly within the black community.
She became an assistant commissioner in 2009, and after two years with the Met embroiled in scandal, she was promoted to one of the top roles in policing, as head of counter-terrorism.
Friends said Dick loved that job, but her relationship with Hogan-Howe became strained. She was moved out of the role, in a thinly veiled slapdown, and then started looking to leave the Met.
She applied to lead the Police Service of Northern Ireland, but was unsuccessful, and then landed a director general role at the Foreign Office, first as a secondment before she formally left the Met. Now as commissioner she will have to be sworn in again as a police officer, taking the oath to the Queen and vowing to uphold the law without fear or favour.
Rudd said: “Cressida Dick is an exceptional leader, and has a clear vision for the future of the Metropolitan police and an understanding of the diverse range of communities it serves … my recommendation [follows] a rigorous recruitment process which highlighted the quality of senior policing in this country.
“She now takes on one of the most demanding, high-profile and important jobs in UK policing, against the backdrop of a heightened terror alert and evolving threats from fraud and cybercrime. The challenges ahead include protecting the most vulnerable, including victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
“Cressida’s skills and insight will ensure the Metropolitan police adapt to the changing patterns of crime in the 21st century and continue to keep communities safe across London and the UK.”“Cressida’s skills and insight will ensure the Metropolitan police adapt to the changing patterns of crime in the 21st century and continue to keep communities safe across London and the UK.”
Rudd added: “Cressida is absolutely the right choice to lead the Metropolitan police as this government continues its work to reform the police, and I look forward to working with her to make a real difference to policing in the capital.” Theresa May said Dick had “an outstanding record of public service” and “the exceptional qualities needed to meet the challenge of leading the Met”. The prime minister added that her skills and insight “will be crucial in shaping the Met as the job of police reform continues, coordinating the national response to the ongoing threat of terrorism and serious criminality as well as keeping Londoners safe. In addition, she will be a champion of the most vulnerable who the police are there to protect”.
Khan said: “Cressida Dick will be the first female commissioner of the Met in its 187-year history, and the most powerful police officer in the land. She has already had a long and distinguished career, and her experience and ability has shone throughout this process. Khan had early on identified Dick as his chosen candidate to be Met commissioner. He said: “She has already had a long and distinguished career, and her experience and ability has shone throughout this process.
“This is a historic day for London and a proud day for me as mayor. The Metropolitan police do an incredible job, working hard with enormous dedication every single day to keep Londoners safe, so for me it was absolutely essential that we found the best possible person to take the Met forward over the coming years and I am confident that we have succeeded.” “This is a historic day for London and a proud day for me as mayor … it was absolutely essential that we found the best possible person to take the Met forward over the coming years and I am confident that we have succeeded.”
Dick’s appointment means five of the top posts in the criminal justice system in England and Wales are now held by women. Lynne Owens is director general of the National Crime Agency, seen as a rival to the Met for prestige. Owens sat on the first interview panel for the Met commissioner’s job and would herself have been seen as a favourite if she had not earlier opted for the top job at the NCA. The selection process saw the four final candidates subjected to long psychometric tests and two gruelling interviews. Dick faced competition from the current Met head of counter-terrorism, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, who had replaced Dick in that role and who was seen as the preferred candidate of Hogan-Howe.
The other women leading the justice system are Alison Saunders at the Crown Prosecution Service, Rudd, and Sara Thornton, who is chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, who was beaten by Dick to the commissioner’s post. Met veteran Stephen Kavanagh, currently chief constable of Essex, is seen as having boosted his reputation during the selection process and will be a strong contender next time. Sara Thornton, the current chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council also made the final four.
The appointment is by royal warrant and is usually for a five-year term, which can be extended. Dick was a protege of the former Met commissioner Lord Blair, and is the child of Oxford University academics. Like every police chief before her, she began as a beat officer in 1983, rising through the ranks to become assistant commissioner in 2009.
Dick was chosen from a field of candidates including Mark Rowley, a Met assistant commissioner who leads on counter-terrorism across British policing, and Stephen Kavanagh, chief constable of Essex police, an ex-Met veteran. She was head of counter-terrorism for the London 2012 Olympic Games but before that she oversaw the launch of the Met’s inquiries into phone hacking and bribing of officials, which led to a string of prosecutions.
Dick’s appointment means five of the top posts in the criminal justice system in England and Wales are now held by women. Lynne Owens is director general of the National Crime Agency, seen as a rival to the Met for prestige. The other women leading the justice system include Alison Saunders at the Crown Prosecution Service, Rudd and Thornton.
In all, six candidates applied to be commissioner. It was the first time foreign police chiefs would be considered but none applied despite the government changing the law. The Guardian understands that one US police chief was sounded out but declined to apply.