A new report from Policy Exchange assesses the performance of the Metropolitan Police at the three-year point of Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s term of office.
The report shows:
- Public confidence in the Metropolitan Police has fallen further in the last three years, since the start of Sir Mark Rowley’s term as Commissioner – to an all-time low, since modern records began, of only 45 percent of Londoners believing the force is doing a good job in their local area (in the 12 months to June 2025). This is down from 69% almost ten years ago in 2016.
- Despite falls in the volume of knife crime offences during 2025 compared to 2024, the force continues to record far higher levels of knife crime compared to other major English forces: for the last financial year on record (to March 2025) per 100,000 population knife crime rates are 17.8 per cent higher than the West Midlands, 36.8 per cent higher than Greater Manchester, 44.6 per cent higher than South Yorkshire and 46.9 per cent higher than West Yorkshire.
- The force is revealed to be solving only a tiny fraction of reported high-volume theft offences in London, solving only: 1 in 20 robberies and burglaries, 1 in 76 bicycle thefts, 1 in 179 theft person offences such as pick-pocketing and 1 in 13 shoplifting offences.
The report identifies key elements which have led to the force’s failure to deliver on the Commissioner’s promise to create the “strongest ever neighbourhood policing”:
- a years-long delay in shifting the doctrine of neighbourhood policing teams from community engagement to crime-fighting;
- a fall in the number of officers deployed to local BCU frontline policing teams of 8.3 per cent or 1,631 officers while the number of civilian staff members in the force has increased by 14.54 per cent or 1,453 staff members;
- a failure to mitigate the impact of police station closures – with plans for there to be only two police station front counters open 24/7 in the entirety of London; and
- a failure to mitigate previous significant changes to the local police leadership structures, with command teams now stretched across between two and four local boroughs in the capital.
Across the following key areas, Policy Exchange assesses the force’s performance as follows:
- Public Confidence – Inadequate
- Crime Fighting – Required Improvement
- Policing Protests – Inadequate
- Public Trust, Confidence and Professionalism – Adequate
The report makes five core recommendations for the Home Secretary, Commissioner and Chief Inspector of Constabulary.
The launch of this report was covered by:
