Departure of the MPS Commissioner

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024958

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. The email address for your Chief Constable.
2. The phone number for your Chief Constable.
3. The reason that your last chief constable left the position.
4. The general email address for your force e.g. a ‘contact us’ email address.
5. The phone number for your Professional Standards Department.
6. The email address for your Professional Standards Department

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means
Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

When a request for information is made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), a public authority must inform you, when permitted, whether the information requested is held. It must then communicate that information to you. If a public authority decides that it cannot comply with all or part of a request, it must cite the appropriate section or exemption of the Act and provide you with an explanation.

Following receipt of your request, I have conducted searches to locate the requested information. These searches located information that is relevant to your request.
I have provided the information located in respect of parts 3-6 of your request for information in the section of this notice titled ‘Disclosure’ below. I have refused to release the information located in response to parts 1-2 of your request.

Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means - of the Act provides public authorities with an exclusion from the duty to disclose information under Section 1(1)(b) of the Act, when the information requested is reasonably accessible to the applicant.

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement - of the Act provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

I have claimed this exemption in that the release and publication of the email address and telephone number of the Commissioner, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

Disruption to the Work of Senior MPS Employees - The release and publication of the email address and telephone number of the Commissioner would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person with this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact with the office of the Commissioner and/or send them vast amounts of unsolicited correspondence. This would tie up the resources of the office of the Commissioner and cause disruption to the work of the MPS.

Access to Police Services - The MPS, through its website and public facing telephone numbers, provide the public with a number of ways in which to contact the MPS and/or access police services. Given this, there would be little public interest/benefit in disclosing and publishing the email address and telephone number of the Commissioner of the MPS.

I have found that that the public release and publication of the telephone number and email address of the Commissioner, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour. Given this and the fact that the MPS, through its website and public facing telephone numbers, provide the public with a number of ways in which to contact the MPS and/or access police services, I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest. I have accordingly refused to release the information described above in response to your request for information.

Disclosure

Q3 - The reason that your last chief constable left the position.

I have provided a statement of former Commissioner Cressida Dick dated 10 February 2022 below.

Statement from Commissioner Cressida Dick – 10 February 2022

“Following contact with the Mayor of London today, it is clear that the Mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue. He has left me no choice but to step aside. I say this with deep sadness and regret.

At his request, I have agreed to stay on for a short period to ensure the stability of the Met and its leadership while arrangements are made for a transition to a new Commissioner.

Undertaking this role as a servant of the people of London and the UK has been the greatest honour and privilege of my life.
Throughout my career I have sought to protect the people of this wonderful thriving and diverse city.

There have been many tough calls. And many challenges. The 2017 terrorist attacks, the Grenfell fire, difficult protests, the pandemic, the murder of serving officers.

I’m incredibly proud of my team and all they have achieved.
Since day one tackling violence in all its forms has been my number one priority. We continue to see teenagers murdered on our streets and every attack is a tragedy.

But we are delivering and overall violence is down. The Met is bucking the national trend. We are achieving remarkable results in key areas of violence, with thousands of fewer victims of knife and gun crime, and robbery.

We have been tackling county lines, gangs and organised crime groups with extraordinary effects. There is real momentum behind this and I am confident violent crime on the streets will continue to fall.

I leave a Met that is growing and will soon record the largest ever number of officers. London is becoming safer. These great people include more women than ever in every rank and role and an increasing number from a broad range of ethnic backgrounds that truly reflect the diversity of London.

This Met is looking to the future and is ready for threats to come. Officers are better equipped and better informed as we take advantage of mobile and other technologies and forensic capabilities, and introduce better uniform and safety equipment.

We are delivering enormous transformational change, improving our systems and trialling innovative and state-of-the-art technology including live facial recognition and faster ways to capture and examine digital information.

Our counter terrorism capability is world leading. Last year I was extremely proud to see the first phase of the Counter Terrorism Operations Centre bringing all agencies together in one place as we adapt to the evolving threat.
This is the Met where every hour of every day our people perform heroic acts to protect the public. We are more accountable, more transparent and more open than ever – with deeper links to our communities.

The murder of Sarah Everard and many other awful cases recently have, I know, damaged confidence in this fantastic police service. There is much to do – and I know that the Met has turned its full attention to rebuilding public trust, confidence and raising standards. I am very optimistic about the future for the Met and for London.

Thank you to everyone in the Met and those who work with us for the extraordinary efforts you make each and every day. The Met is nearly 200 years old. It is an utterly extraordinary police service. The public depend on you, for your professionalism, courage, compassion and integrity. You make a huge difference to people’s lives every day. I salute you.”

Q4 - The general email address for your force e.g. a ‘contact us’ email address.
Q5 - The phone number for your Professional Standards Department.
Q6 - The email address for your Professional Standards Department

The MPS and its Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) can be contacted through the front page of the MPS website. The website provides direct links to pages where members of the public can contact the MPS on a range of matters from reporting crimes to making complaints to the DPS. I have provided a link to the MPS website below.

MPS Website - Front Page
MPS Home Page

Please note that the DPS do not operate a telephone number for public use.