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The Met is the largest police force in Europe. It delivers policing services to 9 million Londoners across 620 square miles, 32 boroughs and 678 neighbourhoods, and to millions of commuters and visitors to the capital.

The force is committed to delivering a different way of policing the capital under ‘A New Met for London‘.

It is dedicated to being a truly local police force that engages with communities, where residents get to know and trust their local officers, and where Londoners have a greater say over the force’s policing priorities.

Its leadership is working harder to embed officers in communities across London that need the most support, to ensure residents feel safe and secure where they live.

The Met is committed to earning and maintaining the trust of Londoners of all backgrounds and policing by consent.

The force is building a strong culture that reflects its values of respect and service to all, and tackles head on racism, misogyny, homophobia and all forms of discrimination.

A key part of building that strong culture is fixing the Met’s foundations – supporting its officers with new training, equipment and technology to help them succeed and uphold high standards.

Despite challenges with growing officer numbers, the Met is in a strong position to make these reforms to the way it operates.

The Met’s mission is to keep London safe for everyone and be the most trusted police service in the world while continuing to drive down crime.

The Met is the largest police force in Europe. It delivers policing services to 9 million Londoners across 620 square miles, 32 boroughs and 678 wards, and to millions of commuters and visitors to the capital.

After years of declining resources against rising demand, the Met is growing again thanks to the Uplift Programme: it currently has 33,567 police officers, its highest ever number. It is becoming more diverse: in 2021/22, 23 per cent of officer recruits were of Black, Asian or multiple ethnic heritage and 39 per cent were female. The Met is using the growth to build organisational strength, focusing on crime prevention and enforcement, working with communities to develop long-term solutions.

The Met has a significant strength in specialist crime, investigations and specialist operations. It co-ordinates Counter Terrorism policing nationally and is responsible for protecting the Royal Family, Parliament and the diplomatic corps. It provides support to more than 3,000 events annually: State visits, summits, protests, sporting, community and ceremonial events or festivals.

Through the pandemic, the Met continued to deliver a high quality and resilient service to Londoners. London’s crime rate in March 2022 stood at 92.3 per 1,000 population, broadly in line with the rest of England and Wales average (88.8) and substantially below similar large urban forces in England (124.2). There were fewer young victims of knife crime. Detection rate for homicide was 100 per cent in 2021.

The Met’s mission is to keep London safe for everyone and its vision to be the most trusted police service in the world. Whilst public trust is relatively high, it is declining, and there are clear disparities across communities. Rebuilding this trust, working to the highest standards and reducing violent crime are the current main areas of focus for the Met.