Speeches

Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase trust in the Metropolitan Police.

Damian Green

The majority of police officers serving in London and elsewhere do their jobs
well, serving their communities with dedication and professionalism. We are
building on this by:
• Delivering the first-ever Code of Ethics, which is due to be published
shortly by the College of Policing. The Code sets out clearly the high
standards of behaviour expected from all police officers and staff of all ranks;
• Establishing, through the College of Policing, a set of national registers of
chief officer reward packages, gifts and hospitality and business interests
including second jobs. The College is also producing a national register of
"struck-off" officers to record those dismissed for misconduct, ensuring that
those individuals are not re-employed by the police;
• Legislating for a new offence of police corruption, supplementing the
existing offence of misconduct in public office and focusing clearly on those
who hold police powers, as an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill
already before Parliament;
• Strengthening the Independent Police Complaints Commission so that it will
have responsibility for dealing with all serious and sensitive cases involving
the police. HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary has also been commissioned to
look specifically at the anti-corruption capability of police forces, including
professional standards departments;
• Advertising now for Direct Entry to the police this autumn at Superintendent
level, which will bring a fresh perspective and approach and will open up
policing culture; and
• Introducing a comprehensive package of reform to stop and search which will
contribute to a significant reduction in the overall use of the powers, better
and more intelligence-led stop-and-search, and improved stop-to-arrest ratios.