Cressida Dick had announced that morning that she had no intention of resigning from her post as chief of police in London.

A few hours later, the country's highest-ranking police officer announced her resignation.

She said she had no choice after London Mayor Sadiq Khan withdrew his backing from her.

Khan had voiced his anger at the failure of the scandal-to-scandal police agency, calling for immediate action to be taken by Dick, Scotland Yard's "toxic culture of racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny". eradicate and restore shattered trust.

A report by the Police Inspectorate published last week,

who uncovered a high level of misogynist and racist behavior in an inner-city police station was the last straw.

It stated that these events were not limited to the behavior of just a few "bad apples".

Gina Thomas

Features correspondent based in London.

  • Follow I follow

The mayor, who is responsible for supervising the police but not for appointing the chief of police, which is the responsibility of the Home Office, felt that Dick's proposals for improvement were insufficient.

She anticipated her dismissal with her resignation.

Dick also surprised the Home Office, which made no secret of its displeasure with Khan's actions.

The Labor politician is accused of opportunism and self-portrayal.

While Dick, 61, will remain in office for a few more weeks to ensure an orderly handover, her departure comes at a politically sensitive time.

Scotland Yard is investigating the Downing Street lockdown parties.

The outcome could decide Boris Johnson's future as Prime Minister.

In addition to the many allegations leveled against Dick, there have also been objections to their handling of events at the Prime Minister's Office.

She was initially criticized for her original decision not to investigate.

After changing her mind, she caused trouble by preventing Officer Sue Gray's full account of the "Partygate" affair from appearing,

Cressida Dick, the Oxford- and Cambridge-educated daughter of two Oxford academics, was already controversial when she became the first woman and first openly gay to lead the nearly 200-year-old London agency in 2017.

Although she was later expressly cleared of personal guilt, in July 2005 she led the operation in which Brazilian suspect Jean Charles de Menezes, who was falsely suspected of terrorism, was shot dead.

Attacks on the police chief and her agency have increased in recent months.

She was accused not only of failure in connection with the rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard by a police officer.

The police action at the unauthorized vigil for the murdered also caused horror.

Since then, various investigations have uncovered grievances.

In December, two police officers were jailed for taking photos of two murder victims and sharing them with colleagues via WhatsApp.

Another investigation accused the agency of "institutional corruption" in connection with the unsolved murder of a private investigator.

In addition, an official investigation into the cause of death of four young homosexual victims of a serial killer found repeated errors, which family members of the murdered people blamed on police homophobia.

Despite this criticism, only five months ago, Home Secretary Priti Patel extended the police chief's contract, which expired in April, by two years.

That was less an expression of trust than an attempt to buy time to look for a successor.

He must have strong and resolute leadership skills to tackle a change in police culture, Patel said on Thursday.