Black boys in London more likely to be dead at 18 than white peers, says Met Chief
Sir Mark Rowley told Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that racial disparity among suspects and victims of crime in the capital was a 'difficult' issue for the force.
The Met Police Commissioner said there was a history between policing and black communities 'where policing has got a lot wrong, and we get a lot more right today'.
'But we do still make mistakes. That's not in doubt,' Sir Mark added. 'I'm being as relentless in that as it can be.'
It comes two years after an official report labelled the Met institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. The report, led by Baroness Casey, was commissioned in 2021 after serving officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.
Sir Mark added: 'It's not right that black boys growing up in London are more likely to be dead by the time they're 18, far more likely than white boys. That's, I think, shameful for the city.'
Instead, he said he wanted to 'give black boys growing up in London equal life chances to white boys, which is not what we're seeing at the moment'.
'And it's not simply about policing, is it?' Sir Mark added. 'I think black boys are several times more likely to be excluded from school, for example, than white boys.
'And there are multiple issues layered on top of each other that feed into disproportionality.'
The police chief said the Met was a 'stretched service' but that people who called 999 could expect an officer to attend.
'If you are in the middle of the crisis and something awful is happening and you dial 999, officers will get there really quickly,' Sir Mark said.
'I don't pretend we're not a stretched service.
'We are smaller than I think we ought to be, but I don't want to give a sort of message of a lack of hope or a lack of determination.'
Sir Mark went on to say that the criminal justice system was 'close to broken' and could be 'frustrating' for officers.
He gave the example of Snaresbrook Crown Court in London, which he said had more than 100 cases listed for 2029.
'If it's someone on bail, then who might have stolen your phone or whatever and going in for a criminal court trial, that could be four years away.
'And that's pretty unacceptable, isn't it?' he added.
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