Priti Patel: I will select the right Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police

Yesterday I expressed my thanks to Dame Cressida Dick for her service as she announced her resignation as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

She was the first woman to hold the post and has exemplified the increasingly diverse nature of our police, demonstrating that all can aspire to hold leadership roles in policing in this country today.

Today, as I prepare to begin the process of choosing her successor, I want to reassure Londoners and people across the country of my commitment to selecting the right leader for the largest police force in the UK.

Leading the Met is a privilege with enormous and unique responsibilities. The first duty is to protect the public, the people and the streets of our capital, making London a safer place to live, work and visit. The Commissioner is a national leader, with a critical national role in respect of overseeing our counter-terrorism capability when there remains a variety of threats from people and groups who wish this country harm.

This is the biggest leadership role in policing. However, at this time, the challenges facing the new Commissioner are stark.

Following a series of appalling incidents and too many historical cases involving serving Met Police officers, it is clear that strong and decisive new leadership will be required to restore public confidence in our largest police force. The public in London and across the entire country must once again have confidence in the integrity and professionalism of the police officers who serve them.

Policing culture and conduct have rightly come under scrutiny. Be in no doubt that a new leader must tackle these institutional issues.

I will appoint a Commissioner who will deliver results for the public that our police serve and represent. Beating crime, preventing crime, protecting our citizens, our streets and communities at a time when this Government is investing record sums into the police, is paramount.

And above all that’s what I – and the public across the country – will want from the country’s most senior police officer: someone focused on the basics of reducing violence in the city, tackling the abuse of women and girls, ridding our streets of drugs, knives and weapons, saving lives and protecting the public from the those who wish to do them harm.

Priti Patel is the Home Secretary