Scotland Yard’s New Boss Will Need a ‘Very Thick Skin’

Sir Mark Rowley, via Wikipedia

Sir Mark Rowley, who was knighted by the Queen in 2017 for guiding the policing response to terrorism during the Manchester Arena bombing and the Westminster terrorist attacks, is the new head of the storied Scotland Yard.

The appointment of Rowley, a former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and Chief Constable of Surrey Police, comes three months months after the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick.   He completed a shortlist for the post of just two white male candidates, both with a background in policing at the Metropolitan Police.

While there is no doubt that the appointment will be welcomed across policing in the UK, Rowley’s leadership skills will be severely tested.

Sir Mark has pledged to put policing by and with the consent of all Londoners at the heart of the service he will lead, in an effort to regain public trust and confidence. How he will do this remains to be seen.

Sir Mark said he was “deeply honored” by the appointment.

In a statement, he said:

Our mission is to lead the renewal of policing by consent which has been so heavily dented in recent years, as trust and confidence have fallen.

We will deliver more trust, less crime and high standards for London and beyond, and we will work with London’s diverse communities as we together renew the uniquely British invention of ‘policing by consent’.

Sir Mark will serve an initial five-year term, with an annual salary of just under £293,000 (Approximately US $349,000).

Home Secretary Priti Patel said of the new appointment:

I look forward to working closely with Sir Mark. This will be a challenging period, but with a focus on tackling neighbourhood crime and delivering the basics of policing, Sir Mark is committed to tackling the significant challenges confronting the force and to making London’s streets safer by driving down crime and bringing more criminals to justice.

The Mayor Sadiq Khan is on record as stating that the Metropolitan Police needs a process of root and branch reform, and after being put into special measures last week by the Home Office Inspectors of Constabulary, patience is wearing thin with the UK’s largest police force.

Khan is yet to make a formal statement concerning Sir Mark’s appointment but will have been consulted before the appointment announcement was made.

While the Commissioner’s term of office will be for a 5 year tenure he will be under pressure to turn the force around quickly.

He will need to be a reformer who exercises critical judgement on how to tackle the toxic culture of misogyny, homophobia and racism that still exists within the organisation.

It is all well and good to make statements about driving down crime and delivering justice but the public of London will need to see a more engaged and enlightened police officer delivering the service, before trust and confidence can be fully restored.

To this end Sir Mark has vowed to be ruthless in driving out those who have and whom are continuing to corrupt the integrity of the organization. It is those incidences of domestic violence within its ranks, the targeting of vulnerable witnesses for sex, the treatment of women in general and the use of social media to boast about it that are far too prevalent for the public to stomach.

Add to this the continual flouting of recognized procedures for recording crime, the use of stop and search powers, the appalling standard of investigations into rape crime and burglaries and the accusations of institutional racism, corruption and homophobia, that make Rowley’s task both huge and important.

It may be that with his former seven years service at the highest levels of the Met, Rowley will have a unique insight into what needs to change, but as part of the hierarchy he may be seen as forever tainted by association.

He will inherent a top command team who have been in place during the previous Commissioner’s tenure and who could be seen as complicit in her inability to change the culture and tackle the very problems that have driven the force into special measures.

Gareth Bryon

Dealing with them and winning the hearts and minds of his officers, as well as delivering on his promises to the public, will be a true test of his leadership skills.

He will need a very thick skin.

See also: Scotland Yard Placed Under Government Watchdog, The Crime Report, July 8, 2022

Gareth Bryon is a former Detective Chief Superintendent who worked as a senior officer in the South Wales Police and the British Transport Police, where he led major crime investigation and forensic science services for over 30 years.

See also: Scotland Yard Placed Under Government Watchdog, The Crime Report, July 8, 2022