A lecture by Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, resulted in controversy, Monday 16th January, when the new head of the police service spoke at the LSE. Chaired by Professor Tim Newburn, head of the Department of Social Policy, the Sheffield-born Hogan-Howe opened with a brief biography of his career, which began in South Yorkshire Police prior to senior roles in Merseyside and Greater London.
Having been appointed Britain’s highest-ranking police officer last September, prompted by the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson over the phone-hacking scandal, Hogan-Howe’s lecture aimed to set out his priorities for the year ahead as well as to take questions regarding his oft-repeated mantra of “Total Policing,” in addition to acknowledging that the police “don’t always get it right” with regards to community relations.
The Commissioner addressed a packed Old Theatre, with an audience clearly divided on the major law and order issues of the day.
Hogan-Howe outlined the challenges facing the Metropolitan Police in the context of government spending cuts. Stating that the fourteen per cent reduction in spending represented a smaller reduction than other forces, the Commissioner claimed that they represented an opportunity for the “Metropolitan Police to be the best in the country,” and that “stability is not inertia” with regards to structural reforms.
Listing the major policing challenges for 2012, Hogan-Howe placed an unsurprising focus on the forthcoming Summer Olympics and the queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Noting the recent devolution of policing responsibility from the Home Secretary to the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime, the Commissioner gave a cautious welcome to the Coalition government’s proposed elected police commissioners, a suggestion he described as being “radical” and of “honourable intentions.”
Hogan-Howe, who presided over a fall in crime of a third whilst head of police in Liverpool, continued by outlining his concept of “Total Policing.” Defining it as being motivated by the “Three C’s” of policing; “cutting crime, cutting cost and cultural development” he also stated his commitment to humanising the role of officers, stating that people “are not simply dots on a graph.”
The Commissioner stated the importance of teamwork in forming a successful police force, while also accepting the need to allow operational autonomy for individual officers. Hogan-Howe also expressed a view that the Metropolitan Police should approach the “total war on criminals” in an ethical manner, referencing his previous work in Merseyside in making police presence more visible, but less divisive.
Referencing past successes in cutting drug-related crime by focusing on traffic offences and uninsured drivers, Hogan-Howe stated a belief in the Metropolitan Police using technology to adopt a new developmental structure, ranging from better use of sight-recognition cameras, to a more active presence on the social media.
The Commissioner went on to clarify his position on civil liberties as trying to balance the “right to protest with the right to safety.” The lecture, which occurred as the Parliament Square peace camp was part-removed, was also used by Hogan-Howe as a means to express his fundamental view that the police “should be totally professional in the way in which we fight crime.” Despite saying that the police needs to engage in a better way with the issue of knife crime, the Commissioner still expressed that stop-and-search methods continue to represent a vital role in ensuring public safety.
An animated question and answer session followed the Commissioner’s speech, largely focusing on the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and members of ethnic minorities. Responding to a question from David Lammy, in which the MP for Tottenham suggested that the limited number of black officers within the Metropolitan Police was “at the heart” of the issue of disproportionality in the number of black men being stopped and searched, Hogan-Howe was resolute. Claiming that rising housing costs had had an impact on the number of local people serving as Inner London police officers, the Commissioner did say that restoring the link between the police and the local community was a challenge for the Metropolitan Police. However, he noted that the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees of the Metropolitan Police has more than doubled over the past two decades.
Responding to a question by Sherelle Davids, the Students’ Union Anti-Racism Officer, on the issue stop-and-search, Hogan-Howe maintained that the only purpose of the policy was to prevent crime. Various members of the audience took issue with the Commissioner’s use of statistics, with one UCL Criminology student asking if the policy was undermined by the fact that over ninety per cent of random searches resulted in no illegal or incriminating objects being found.
Hogan-Howe also disputed the facts regarding deaths in custody, at one point refusing to continue his reply when members of the audience began crying out the names of alleged victims of police negligence. Once audience members had quietened, the Commissioner did state that whilst statistics could be debated, the fundamental issue of police engagement and success could “only be tested by future results.”
Hogan-Howe left the stage to some considerable anger, with his departure prompting furious chanting from members of the audience.
The lecture formed part of a series of events run by the Government Department under the banner of “British Government@LSE” established last year as a means of promoting external public policy debates at the School.
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