Scotland Yard has been slammed for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money on motivational events ahead of them implementing £400m in budget cuts.
Information obtained from a Freedom of Information request by Police Oracle revealed Inspire Change were paid £282,000 to deliver 20 large-scale events to Met officers and staff.
The huge fee, enough to pay ten police officers for a year, was part of a lavish series of events held at the Oval in Kennington to mark the launch of the Met’s 2020 Vision programme, costing £621,000.
Motivational speaker and ‘Britain’s deepest freediver' Jim Lawless was paid £40,000 to deliver a number of speeches to officers and staff.
In his book, Taming Tigers, Mr Lawless sets out ten maxims proven in business, including ‘do something scary every day’, ‘there is no safety in numbers’ and ‘head in the direction where you want to arrive, every day’.
An officer who listened to Mr Lawless’ speech told the Police Oracle: “As a taxpayer, I just thought to myself, this is indicative of how screwed up this is – they are patronising people in this way and we as taxpayers are having to pay for it.
“It’s a sad state of affairs if the Met can’t find someone inspiring from within the police. I think it really stuck in a lot of people’s throats.”
A Met Police spokesman said that Mr Lawless agreed to give the Met a 60 per cent discount on his company’s usual fee ‘because of his desire to help the Met achieve their vision to make London the safest global city’.
The spokesman added that as well as speeches from Jim Lawless, who was paid £2,000 per event, officers and staff were given speeches on project management, facilitation and registration management.
The spokesman said: “The Met is fortunate that high-calibre speakers like Jim Lawless want to come and help the organisation do everything we can to keep the people of London safe."
In a statement, the force added: "There's a real benefit for our officers and staff in hearing an external perspective, and giving them an opportunity to think, away from the day-to-day challenges of policing.
"It's a personal investment in the leaders of a high-performing team that's reduced crime whilst making big savings."
The events in April came only months after Met commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe warned that London was at risk due to the severity of police cuts.
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