Former Met Chief on Policing, Justice, and the Lucy Connolly Case

State of UK Policing

• 📉 A 2024 Yuggov survey indicates a decline in public confidence in the police, with 52% having little or no confidence, a significant increase from 39% in 2019.
• 📉 This decline is attributed to factors like unpunished shoplifting, unsolved petty crimes, and potentially the impact of larger events like the Manchester Arena bombing and Southport incidents.
• 💡 Post-COVID, public services, including policing, shifted to remote work, leading to fewer crime attendances, a trend that has unfortunately continued.
• ⚖️ A 2012 prosecution policy change, generally not prosecuting shoplifting below £200, has altered police dynamics, though officers should still attend incidents.
• 🤝 The public expects a professional service that attends, cares, and listens, even if not every crime can be solved.

Traditional Policing and Visibility

• 🚶‍♂️ There's a strong public desire for visible policing, often termed "bobbies on the beat," which reassures communities.
• 📍 While not every street can be patrolled, focusing on areas with high footfall, like shopping centers, is crucial for visibility and challenging unusual behavior.
• 📱 Increased demand on police services is partly due to mobile phones making police instantly available, unlike in the past when minor issues might be resolved within families.
• 📊 Despite challenges like increased geography and demand, the number of crimes per borough is manageable, suggesting that attending incidents is not impossible.

The Lucy Connolly Case and "Hurty Words"

• ⚖️ The former Met chief believes police should generally not investigate "hurty words" or abuse online unless there are aggravating factors, due to the sheer volume of internet content.
• ⚠️ The Lucy Connolly case, involving a racist tweet, is discussed, with many feeling her 31-month sentence was disproportionate, especially when compared to sentences for more violent crimes.
• 🏛️ The Court of Appeal's role is to standardize sentences, and while a suspended sentence could have been argued for, the context of riots and the gravity of the offense were considered.
• 🗣️ Words matter, and while free speech is valued, there can be consequences, particularly when language incites disorder or hatred.

Stop and Search and Knife Crime

• 🔪 Stop and search is considered a useful tool, but its efficiency can be improved with better technology, such as facial recognition on body-worn cameras to inform officers why a stop is being made.
• 📱 Developing schemes to gather intelligence from the public, particularly from family members, about who is carrying knives is vital, with assurances of consequences that don't necessarily mean immediate prison for first-time offenses.
• 🚨 Penalties must deter, but deterrence is ineffective without detection, highlighting the need for swift police response to intelligence.

Police Conduct and Firearms Officers

• 🔫 The IOPC's decision to pursue a gross misconduct hearing for Sergeant Martin Blake, cleared by a jury for the shooting of Chris Kaba, is disagreed with.
• 🛡️ Firearms officers are a specialized group who rarely discharge their weapons, and the jury's swift acquittal suggests their actions were reasonable under extreme pressure.
• ⏳ There's a call for time limits on inquiries and greater legal comfort for firearms officers, similar to self-defense laws, to account for the split-second decisions they must make.
• ⚖️ The prolonged investigation period for officers, even after acquittal, is seen as detrimental to the officers and their families.