There has been a lot of criticism of Boris’s policing deputy Stephen Greenhalgh, but I remain convinced that Hogan-Howe deserves more criticism than he’s had so far over his no-show.
The ‘too busy’ excuse heard by Assembly Members raises questions about exactly what Londoners should expect their Commissioner to be doing with his 200 – according to Greenhalgh – working days a year.
Someone in Scotland Yard apparently thinks spending them attending conferences and giving speeches to policy think tanks is more worthwhile than answering questions from London’s elected questioners.
Here – via a very quick Google search – are just some of the things BHH is doing with his limited time in the coming months:
2nd Cyber Security and Resilience Conference
5th International Evidence Based Policing Conference
5 Essex Court Annual Police Law Conference
Retail Crime and Loss Prevention Conference
In previous months he’s found time to give a speech to Policy Exchange and to speak at the London Policy Conference.
Perhaps the Assembly should ask how many such events he attends each month, especially those months he’s too busy to help them with their enquiries.
Of course those around the Commissioner – perhaps he himself – would say these appearances are a valuable chance for him to set out his position on major issues of the day.
There are those of us who equally believe the same is true of his appearances before a panel with the ability to challenge unsatisfactory answers and to follow-up at future meetings the promises and commitments he makes.
While London waits for his diary to free up, perhaps the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime could pay for the Assembly to visit these important events so they can question the Commissioner on behalf of those who pay his wages?
Damian Hockney says
This surely is precisely what was wrong with those recent ‘reforms’ of policing oversight as they affect London. Would this have happened with the old MPA? Many of us did comment that the committee taking the place of the MPA would be less effective and a step backwards in accountability. But then this is the game in regard to oversight – if something becomes too effective (and the MPA was definitely finding its feet/growing in stature at about the half way mark of its existence), then government at every level comes along to neutralise it.
Tom Redfearn says
While I completely understand your comment about scrutiny of the Commissioner, linking it with his attendance at conferences/seminars etc is very unfair. The Commissioner is the most senior police officer in the UK, as such I would consider it vitally important that he visit such conferences/seminars where police colleagues and policy makers (who impact on policing) are also.
The Commissioner should have time to both face scrutiny and attend such conferences/seminars.
John King says
I read Mr. Hoskic’s comments with an almost weary sense of disbelief. The Commissioner of the Met Police is not some junior civil servant who is to be dragged from one ‘accountability’ meeting to the next at the behest of the socially high minded worthies of London. The Commissioner is first and foremost a policeman. His job is to keep order in London. If that means he must attend meetings (conferences) with senior police personnel from within the Met or other police forces rather than spend time being besieged by civilians who think they know all there is to know about enforcing the law and keeping order, then that is what he should do. The last thing policing in this country needs is a repeat of the roadshow that was Mr. Hogan-Howe’s predecessors debasing themselves in front of a kangaroo court such as the old MPA.
John says
Yes – as has been said – welcome to the world of the PCC. You have the right to hold him accountable and he, and he alone, holds the Commissioner accountable.
If you didn’t approve of this you wouldn’t have agreed to it – would you?