When Sir Mark Rowley took over as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2022, he spoke about cleaning up the force and restoring public confidence. Three years on, that promise feels hollow to many Londoners watching crime go unaddressed and the very institution meant to protect them appears unable – or unwilling – to hold its own to account.
Most recently, Rowley warned the London policing board that urgent action was needed to address chronic justice system breakdowns, including offenders remaining untagged, repeat criminals being bailed without consequence and an apparent inability to monitor many of those who are electronically tagged. This failure reportedly contributed to a significant share of reported crime in the capital, as around 30% of criminals who should have been tagged were not because monitoring devices were never installed or activated.
Rather than reassuring the public, these revelations underline a core problem. The Met’s strategies too often generate headlines about contracting giants of electronic monitoring while failing to deliver meaningful safety outcomes on the ground. Meanwhile, confidence in the criminal justice system continues to slide. Independent survey data shows public trust and perceptions of police effectiveness have fallen over many years, with fewer people saying the police do a good job or can be relied upon; a long-term trend noted by researchers and reflected in trust data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
But the crisis goes beyond crime figures and tagging devices. The Met’s reputation has been repeatedly dented by scandal after scandal under Rowley’s leadership. The shocking case of David Carrick, who was able to commit decades of rape and sexual violence while serving as a Met officer, showed visceral failings in vetting and internal oversight, and even led Downing Street to say public trust had been “shattered” by the events.
Other officers have been investigated or are under review for assault, domestic abuse or misconduct, and in at least one instance a police officer accused of multiple rapes and domestic violence successfully challenged his dismissal even as Rowley’s vetting reforms attempted to remove unfit officers.
Rowley himself acknowledges systemic problems, but dampening those concerns by insisting on technical language or resisting criticism of deep cultural issues does little to reassure a public weary of headline after headline of abuse, bias and unaccountability.
The rot, as many Londoners see it, isn’t just within the ranks; it’s at the top. Electronic tags and monitoring contracts may be politically comfortable talking points, but they don’t substitute for real accountability, meaningful reform and policing that earns back trust rather than squanders it.
Image source: The Standard
Opinion article by The View.