Met Police names Commissioner to replace Dame Cressida Dick while force is in special measures

Former counter-terrorism chief Sir Mark Rowley has been appointed as the new Metropolitan Police Chief.

The move comes after the resignation of former top officer Dame Cressida Dick, and the force being put into special measures over its failings.

The Met was in particular criticised over the death of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped raped and murdered by a serving officer, before the force was condemned for heavy-handedness against attendees of a vigil for her, and against police violence. Racist and misogynistic messages sent by officers was also recently exposed.

Rowley’s policing career spans thirty years, and he has spent time at the top of the force in Surrey, before joining the Met a decade ago.

He spent three years as assistant commissioner for specialist crime before serving as the national lead for counter-terrorism for four years.

The move was announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who praised him as “a distinguished and exceptionally experienced police officer.

“He now takes on one of the most important and demanding jobs in policing, leading the country’s largest force at a time when public trust in the Metropolitan Police has been severely undermined by a number of significant failings.”

She said “rebuilding public trust and delivering on crime reduction must be his priority.”

Patel also said the UK government is backing the Met in the recruitment of almost 2.6000 new officers, while increasing their budget by more than £3.2bn.

Sir Mark Rowley said said he is “deeply honoured” by the appointment, and wants to “lead the renewal of policing by consent which has been so heavily dented in recent years as trust and confidence have fallen.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he and Patel “agreed that Sir Mark Rowley is the best person” for the job “at this extremely challenging time.”

“A series of appalling scandals have not only exposed deep cultural problems within the Met, but have contributed to a crisis of confidence in London’s police service.

Sir Mark has made clear to me that he is determined to be a reforming Commissioner, committed to implementing a robust plan to rebuild trust and confidence in the police and to drive through the urgent reforms and step change in culture and performance Londoners deserve.”