Metropolitan Police Service: closure of cause of concern

Published on: 13 November 2024

Letter information

From:
Lee Freeman KPM
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services

To:
Sir Mark Rowley QPM
Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service

CC:
Lynne Owens
Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service

Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London

Sent on:
13 November 2024

I am writing to you to confirm my decision to close the cause of concern we raised in our 2021/22 police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection

Cause of concern

Answering calls for service and identifying vulnerability at the first point of contact

The force needs to improve how it answers calls for service and how it identifies vulnerability at the first point of contact.

Recommendations

Within six months the force should:

  • improve the process for risk assessing callers to identify those that are vulnerable or at risk;
  • make sure that repeat callers are routinely identified; and
  • make sure that call takers give good advice on the preservation of evidence and crime prevention.

Within nine months the force should:

  • make sure emergency calls made to the force are answered promptly; and
  • make sure it can answer a larger proportion of non-emergency 101 calls so that caller attrition levels are reduced and kept as low as possible.

Progress

The force has already completed the recommendations on emergency calls and 101 call handling. After our revisit activities, I am pleased to confirm the force has completed the remaining three recommendations.

Conclusion

As a result of the force’s sustained and significant improvements in performance, we have closed the overall cause of concern.

Back to publication

Metropolitan Police Service: closure of cause of concern