London police chief Cressida Dick announced her resignation on Thursday, February 10, amid a crisis of confidence and in the wake of a damning report for Scotland Yard.
Pushed out by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Cressida Dick said in a statement that she had "no choice but to resign".
"It is clear that the mayor no longer has the necessary confidence in my direction for me to continue," she said, specifying that she would remain in her post until her successor is appointed.
London police have also been roundly criticized for being slow to investigate parties in Downing Street and in power circles despite health restrictions, a scandal that threatens Prime Minister Boris Johnson's political survival.
In a tweet, the head of government thanked Cressida Dick for "protecting the public and making our streets safer".
"Dame Cressida served her country with great dedication and distinction for many decades."
Dame Cressida has served her country with great dedication and distinction over many decades.
I thank her for her role protecting the public and making our streets safer.
—Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) February 10, 2022
The resignation of Cressida Dick, 61, follows the publication on February 1 of a damning report by Britain's police force, the IOPC.
In particular, it had reviewed thousands of messages exchanged on social networks, “many of which were highly sexualized, discriminatory or referred to violence”.
They included in particular direct allusions to rape, homophobic or racist terms or references to the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz.
Of the 14 police officers targeted, based mainly at Charing Cross police station in central London, nine are still active.
They had minimized the messages by putting them on the account of the joke.
"Restore Trust"
The investigation was initially opened in 2018 against a police officer suspected of having sex with a drunk person in a police station.
It was later expanded.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the Mayor of London said he was "not satisfied" with Cressida Dick's response to the scale of the changes he said he "urgently" needed to "restore the confidence" of Londoners and get rid of the "racism, sexism, homophobia, harassment, discrimination and misogyny that still exist" in the police of the capital.
Appointed in 2017, Cressida Dick was then the first woman to lead Scotland Yard.
After the rape and murder of a Londoner, Sarah Everard, by a police officer in March 2021, which caused deep shock in the United Kingdom, the police were accused of having ignored a whole series of alarming signals about the behavior of this agent.
She had also been singled out for her forceful intervention to disperse a rally in tribute to the victim, or after two police officers took pictures of themselves at the scene of a double murder before sharing the photos.
Since her arrival at the head of the London police, Cressida Dick had to face a series of jihadist attacks in 2017, the deadly fire of the Grenfell tower (71 dead), as well as "difficult demonstrations", " the pandemic", "the murder of officers on duty", she recalled.
"I'm incredibly proud of my team and everything they've accomplished."
With AFP
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