Statement from the Leader of Camden Council on the Dame Louise Casey review
Statement from Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, on the publication of Dame Louise Casey review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service:
Dame Louise Casey’s review is a damning assessment of the Metropolitan Police’s failure to implement much needed cultural and systemic change. Our residents deserve a Police Service that they can trust and that responds to the needs of communities, and right now, we are a long way from that.
However, this is an opportunity for policing in London, and one that our city cannot afford to miss. The findings of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia are shocking, but I know that many of our residents will not be surprised. The Metropolitan Police must now follow the recommendations of this report and work with our residents in a meaningful way. We now need to see foundations put in place for a police service that listens to citizens and works with them to tackle all forms of discrimination, rather than being a source of it.
In Camden, there is good work to build on and I want our police to earn and preserve the trust of our residents. Our partnership work with police on the Youth Safety Taskforce is an example of successful policing here, where extensive engagement with the local community, and key partners, formed the basis of the response to the problems of knife crime.
Good policing is built on trust and relationships with communities – we will support Camden’s police as they work to make progress in our borough, and with the Metropolitan Police more broadly as they implement the changes that are clearly so desperately needed.
