The Met has a long-term strategy, the Met Direction. This sets out our vision for the Met in terms of the key features, capabilities and behaviours that we want and will need over the next seven years.

It talks about what we want to excel in operationally, but also considers how the Met should look and feel in order to give us the best chance of delivering a quality service to the public.

It covers seven key areas: three operational priorities and four enabling priorities. It highlights some of the challenges we face and ambitions we have in relation to each:

Our operational priorities:

1. Focus on what matters most to Londoners

Violent crime tops the public’s concerns and tackling it is our top priority. This includes terrorism, knife and gun crime, sexual offending, domestic abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people from predatory behaviour.

2. Work more closely with partners and the public

We know that safety requires action and intervention beyond the police service. We will work with partners and communities to help keep them safe and support them in preventing crime. We will work harder to earn the trust of more young people and ethnic minority communities.

3. Achieve the best outcomes in the pursuit of justice and in the support of victims

We have a fundamental responsibility to uphold the rule of law and to ensure that victims receive the best possible outcome. We will do this by catching offenders and by ensuring victims of crime receive both justice and the support they need from us and our partners.

Our enabling priorities:

1. Seize the opportunities of data and digital tech

We want to harness data and use advanced technologies to our advantage in the pursuit of criminals, rising to the challenge of a fast-moving data-driven digital age. We will make information and insight more accessible internally, and externally, to support evidence-based decisions and promote public confidence. We will strive to enhance our global reputation for excellence and expertise in policing.

2. Care for each other, work as a team, and be an attractive place to work

This means ensuring our officers and staff are well led, well-equipped and well-supported. We will champion difference and diversity of thought so that we are an organisation people of all backgrounds want to work for, and one where they thrive. We will ensure officers and staff are clear about their role and can make a real impact; we will entrust them to make decisions, implement them and deliver their best.

3. Learn from experience, from others, and constantly strive to improve

We want to be better at learning from other forces and organisations, listening to feedback but also empowering officers and staff to test new ideas, learn, train and share insight so we all excel in our roles. By promoting a creative, open and reflective culture, by experimenting more and innovating, we will, with input from colleagues, partners and the public, improve our service to Londoners.

4. Be recognised as a responsible, exemplary and ethical organisation

We want to be effective, efficient and offer value for money, and to attract national and regional funding because partners know we make a difference. We also want to be recognised for our ethics, integrity, transparency and professionalism; and contribute to the sustainability of London and its communities.

Transformation in the Met

The delivery of the strategy is the responsibility of everyone in the Met. As part of our ongoing modernisation, we run a comprehensive portfolio of change programmes with over 70 projects running in 2018-19. The Met’s Transformation Directorate drives this activity, supporting our work to protect the public and become the most trusted police service in the world.

For more information, please read our current business plan and digital strategy.