Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe’s lecture at the LSE last night was part of the university’s ‘Health of our Institutions’ lecture series. Difficult questions, including from Tottenham MP, David Lammy, and a hostile reception—Hogan-Howe left the lecture theatre to boos and hisses from parts of the audience—demonstrated the ill-health of the institution he heads. Despite this, the Met chief asked last night’s audience to judge him on his results.
London’s police force had a tumultuous summer. First, the phone hacking scandal exposed cosiness between the reporters and policemen, as well as between senior police officers and News International executives, that was suspicious enough to cut short the careers of Commissioner Stevenson and Deputy Commissioner Yates.
Then the riots happened. Anger at Mark Duggan’s death at the hands of the police is among the many possible explanations for what triggered disorder in Tottenham. Reading the riots, a study conducted jointly by the LSE and the Guardian, concluded that “deep antipathy towards officers was a significant cause of the disorder”.
More recently, long overdue convictions for Stephen Lawrence’s murderers have resurrected familiar questions about the Met’s relationship with the people they serve. 15 years after Macpherson labelled the organisation “institutionally racist”, questions relating to stop and search, a representative police force and community engagement persist.
And with this unenviable pile of politically-charged problems in his in-tray, Hogan-Howe has less money to spend than his predecessors. The Met, an organisation used to annually increasing budgets, faces 14 per cent cuts.
Given these constraints, it is perhaps unsurprising that Hogan-Howe asks questions to which he does not have the answer. On stop and search, about which he believes his officers need to be “more professional”, Hogan-Howe conceded that “there is a disproportionality”. According to the LSE’s research, a black person is 30 times more likely to be stopped and searched than a white person. But Hogan-Howe said “this is happening in a way I can’t fully explain”.
David Lammy questioned him on black representation in the force. Just 800 of London’s 32,000 police are black. Lammy asked what was being done about this. Hogan-Howe said action was needed on this. But with a squeezed budged and a hiring freeze, what this action will be is unclear. “It is one of our biggest challenges,” he said.
But Hogan-Howe's apparent inertia can be explained. The Met is an institution that needs steadying. Hogan-Howe understands this and realises that his force’s problems will not be solved overnight. Unfortunately for him, that makes public appearances like last night uncomfortable. For now, all he can do is grin and bear the boos.
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