I will have more police officers of colour in the UK capital – and the culture wars won’t stop me doing it | Mark Rowley

Effective policing depends upon inclusivity. If you are committed to policing by consent that stands or falls on the trust of all communities, you cannot do without it.

Last Monday, we launched a major recruitment campaign. We have no interest in the politics and ideologies of the culture wars. Inclusion is an operational necessity.

London is the world’s greatest and most diverse and globally connected city. Nine million people live here. Hundreds of languages are spoken. The scale and complexity of policing London today is unlike anything Sir Robert Peel imagined when founding the Metropolitan police. Yet, in 1829, he recognised that policing success in a democracy relies on public approval, respect and cooperation as much as on “impartial service to the law”.

We cannot be effective if large sections of society do not trust us, do not work with us, or do not see policing as a service that understands their experiences.

An inclusive workforce is not a public relations exercise. It makes us better at protecting victims, catching criminals and preventing crime.

We cannot provide an equally good response to all victims if our understanding of some Londoners is weaker than others. That is obvious when it comes to issues such as language barriers or supporting deaf people, but it is just as important when culture, experience or background may make a victim less willing to talk about sexual abuse, domestic violence or other traumatic crimes.

When victims speak to officers and staff who understand them, and therefore feel fairly and impartially treated, we solve more crime and prevent more harm. When victims feel understood, they are more likely to come forward. When communities trust the police, they are more likely to report crime, share intelligence and support investigations. That trust underpins our effectiveness and goes to the very heart of policing by consent.

We cannot police London effectively without the trust and confidence of the communities we serve. By listening to people’s lived experiences and working in partnership with communities, we can build stronger relationships and greater legitimacy. This is particularly important when using police powers, including stop and search, where fairness, empathy and accountability are essential to maintaining public confidence and keeping London safe.

We need men and women who can carry out surveillance, work undercover and operate effectively across London. We need officers and staff who can build trust with victims of violence against women and girls, who can connect with London’s communities and who bring different experiences, perspectives and skills to complex policing challenges.

These are not ideological arguments. They are practical policing realities. And yet, despite progress, we are still not attracting talent equally. Some worry they will not fit in. Others are discouraged by family or friends. We have a responsibility to challenge those perceptions and remove those barriers. That is what our recruitment campaign is designed to do.

Last year we had the most representative intake of recruits in our history. More women joined. More Londoners from ethnic-minority backgrounds joined. That is welcome progress.

We want the talent from every corner of London to join our courageous and resilient teams and to close the gap with communities we have previously drawn least from.

Some will wrongly argue that recruiting from underrepresented communities means lowering standards. It does not, and they are wrong. Historically, some groups faced barriers that made it harder to join policing, harder to access specialist training and harder to progress into some roles. Removing those barriers is not favouritism. It is fairness.

Some will wrongly suggest that increasing representation means lowering standards. Nothing could be further from the truth. For generations, talented people from some communities have faced barriers that limited opportunities to join policing or build a career within it. Tackling those barriers is not favouritism. It is fairness. Our standards are unchanged and uncompromising. By reaching further into communities where we have historically been underrepresented, we are ensuring we attract the widest and strongest possible pool of talent, helping us build a Met that truly reflects and understands every corner of London.

We want to be an inclusive organisation in which everyone has an equal chance to thrive. Fairness, not favour, should be at the heart of opportunity.

I also want to see more women and people from underrepresented backgrounds putting themselves forward for some of the most exciting roles in British policing.

That means firearms teams, the flying squad, counter-terrorism, specialist operations, public protection and major investigations.

Public debate about inclusion has become increasingly polarised in recent years. Too often there is an assumption that inclusion and impartiality or merit are competing objectives. They are not.

As commissioner I know the Met’s success, in protecting communities and helping London thrive, requires inclusivity as well as impartiality. We will not be blown off course by the culture wars. This is not an ideological choice. It is, as Peel’s founding vision for “policing by consent” described, an operational necessity.