Evening Standard Comment: Cressida is the right woman to lead Met

Dame Cressida Dick appears in line for a two-year extension to her tenure as Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Her appointment in 2017 was itself historic, as the first female and first openly gay officer to lead the Met.

It is clear progress has been made in some areas under this Commissioner, for example, the Met’s predatory offender unit has arrested over 2,000 suspects for domestic abuse, sex offences and child abuse since last November.

But the big test is whether Londoners feel our streets are becoming safer. And here, although the Met says all the right things, there is plenty of work to be done.

The appalling rate of teen murders is a clear failure. Only last week, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in Leyton, the 23rd teenager killed in 2021, fuelling fears that this year will exceed the previous high of 29 teen killings in 2008.

Running a large force, with daily challenges of public protest, counter-terrorism and social issues that manifest themselves in crime, is far from easy.

In our view, she remains the right woman for the job.