The meeting was the second ‘MOPAC challenge’ to be held since the old Metropolitan Police Authority was replaced by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and London Assembly Police and Crime Committee.
You can be forgiven for not knowing it was taking place.
The only press release I and other journalists received announcing it was an ‘Ops Note’ which arrived on Monday asking that we pre-register our attendance. This was clearly marked “Not for publication”, a request we’re obliged to honour.
No announcement for the meeting appeared on the front of london.gov.uk, neither does it appear on the Public Meetings section of the site. The only reference is buried away on the MOPAC section which is itself not very well flagged up.
Even London Assembly members I met on the way into City Hall were unaware the meeting was taking place.
The meeting was webcast but the lack of pre-publicity meant the only people in the public gallery were representatives of activist & community groups, City Hall and Met staff and a couple of journos.
While shy about telling Londoners before the meeting, City Hall found themselves able to issue a press release once it was underway and it was too late for interested citizens to attend.
The creation of the MOPAC was meant to help bring Londoners closer to the Met and help build confidence that they were responding to their concerns. That can’t happen if the public are excluded, even if by omission rather than design, from scrutiny meetings.
Damian Hockney says
I am more cynical of the intent. I said at the time of its creation, and have said ever since, that the creation of the new body and the abolition of the MPA was designed to lessen scrutiny and to hide it behind closed doors. The MPA, having come of age and begun to really find its feet was proving too effective.
Damian Hockney says
PS it is important that Mayorwatch and otehr sites dealing with crime and London register these concerns in the way that you have done.
Martin Davis says
I’m sure that this was an oversight . Now that you have identified this failure to effectively communicate with Londoners about the work of their police service, future meetings will be published on the Greater London Authority site and effective community engagement will become second nature to MOPAC.
Communication Failure Identified says
It may have been an oversight, but….
The first MOPAC challenge meeting – back in mid July – also suffered from the same lack of announcements and publicity.
This meeting had been announced privately by the Deputy Mayor in mid September but was only publically confirmed on Monday, the day before the meeting.
Does that sound like any lessons are being learnt?