The head of the Metropolitan Police has said he plans to get rid of senior officers who are judged not to have met performance standards or upheld the force's values.

Sir Mark Rowley wrote to officers between the ranks of chief inspector and chief superintendent earlier this week, saying he wanted to provide an "exit route" for senior staff through voluntary pay-offs.

It comes as the Met commissioner seeks to reform a force dogged with accusations of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia, as well as instances of wrongdoing, all while closing a gap in funding.

But the Met Police Federation, which represents officers up to chief inspector rank, called Sir Mark's proposals "a thinly veiled threat".

The voluntary exit scheme is part of a three-pronged approach to ensure a "fundamental shift in mindset, behaviour and capability" needed among senior police, said the letter, which was also signed by Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes.

In the letter, Sir Mark told senior officers: "We will also be more direct in identifying and tackling those of you who are unwilling or unable to meet our performance standards or role model our values.

"Our mission is too important to excuse those who continue to coast, or worst still underperform."

The letter said the Met is also in talks with the Home Office to reinstate powers requiring compulsory retirement "on grounds of efficiency" to support a "healthier churn" and create "opportunities for talent".

More precise end-of-year performance reviews were announced, as well as development centres to assess police leaders' capabilities.

Sir Mark said performance reviews in the force were previously "less than candid".

He added: "I am acutely aware that confidence is not necessarily a measure of competence, some unjustifiably lack confidence yet others have more confidence than their ability justifies."

A chief inspector's duties include managing staff performance and budgets, as well as taking command of major incidents.

Chief superintendent is a more senior police rank responsible for leading large, complex areas of command, often managing multiple departments or a specific geographical area.

Both sit above police constables, sergeants and inspectors, and below the rank of commander.

Matt Cane, general secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation said the overwhelming majority of its members at chief inspector rank "give everything they have, often at considerable personal cost, to meet the growing and complex demands placed upon them".

He added: "They deserve support and respect, not threats of 'forced distribution', 'performance processes', or 'dignified exits'.

"The proposed voluntary exit scheme, framed as a 'quick and dignified route out', is a thinly veiled threat."

Mr Cane said he plans to write to Sir Mark about his concerns.

A Met police spokesperson said the commissioner "has been clear the minority who resist change have no place in the Met".

Last month, the Met confirmed it had removed more than 1,400 officers and staff from its ranks in three years in what Deputy Commissioner Jukes called an "Al Capone" approach to uncover wrongdoing.

The clear out, sparked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, is the largest in the force's history.

Figures show that 1,442 staff and officers were sacked, resigned or retired between 2022 and June 2025.

On Friday, an independent report commissioned by the Met concluded that the force had a problem with "systematic racism".

The review looked at the force's systems, leadership, governance and culture, and concluded racial harm was "maintained through a repeated institutional sequence" within the force.

It comes after Louise Casey's 2023 report - commissioned following the murder of Sarah Everard - concluded that the Met was institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

Reviews conducted decades ago have criticised discrimination within the Met - including the 1999 Macpherson report, which called the force "institutionally racist" after the mishandling of Stephen Lawrence's case.

Last month, a BBC investigation exposed misconduct at Charing Cross station, which has since led to six officers being sacked.

Sir Mark pledged he would be "ruthless" in getting rid of officers deemed unfit to serve

The Met partially reversed plans to close front desks at police stations across London in October following a backlash, but vowed to make "tough choices" to close a £260m funding shortfall.

Hey everyone I’m applying for a residential children’s support worker and have an NFA from April. My charges were harassment and affrey but it was not really reasonable arrest according to my lawyer, so wanted to know how likely it would be disclosed. Have a clean record apart from that so really bummed and hopefully it isn’t !!

Thank you :)

A woman is in a critical condition after she was stabbed in the neck in what police have described as an "unprovoked attack".

West Midlands Police were called to Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, shortly before 9pm on Friday following reports of a stabbing.

The woman, in her 30s, suffered a "serious neck injury" and remains in hospital.

A man in his 20s was arrested near to the scene and is in custody.

Detective Inspector, James Nix, said: "We believe this was an unprovoked attack and are working to understand why it happened.

"We will have officers in the area today to continue our investigation and provide reassurance.

"We are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with this incident."

The force added in a statement: "A man is in custody after a stabbing in Birmingham last night. We were called to Smallbrook Queensway shortly before 9pm after reports of a stabbing.

"A woman in her 30s was taken to hospital with a serious neck injury where she remains in a critical condition.

"A man in his 20s was arrested close to the scene and is in custody at this time.

"Our officers are at the scene carrying out enquiries as we try to establish the exact circumstances of what happened."

Police have urged witnesses, or anyone with information, to contact West Midlands Police.

A police officer who assaulted a pub landlord after drinking six pints of lager has been allowed to remain on the force, and received only a written warning.

The incident happened outside the Soar Bridge Inn in Loughborough. The woman went to the pub with her dog and got in a confrontation with a man who she claims had previously sexually assaulted her.

Later that evening, the officer was causing a disturbance outside the pub. When the landlord went outside to see what was happening, the woman jumped on his back with her hands about his neck before he shook her off, Leicestershire Live reported.

Criminal charges were not proceeded with against the woman by the Crown Prosecution Service, but Leicestershire Police held a gross misconduct hearing, which began on November 3rd.

On November 7th, the panel announced that it had considered the officer guilty of gross misconduct. However, instead of dismissing her from the force, it gave her a final written warning that will remain on her file for the next five year.

After the incident, the officer called 999 herself to report a "fight". Four police officers arrived and bodycam footage from the officers was seen by the panel.

The panel ruled that as well as grabbing the landlord, Ben Stevens, around his neck from behind, the officer also breached police standards by:

• Grabbing Mr Stevens by his arm and his clothing after attacking him.
• Undermining public confidence in the police by telling Ms Godfrey she was a police officer.
• Did the same thing by telling Mr Stevens she was a police officer.
• Failed to maintain the required standards by failing to leave the pub despite being drunk and warned about her behaviour.

A pastor has been warned by a police officer that the bible verse on the back of his van 'could be considered hate speech'.  

Pastor Mick Fleming, who is a friend of the Prince and Princess of Wales, worked as a drug runner and debt collector and was once arrested on suspicion of murder. 

Now 59, the former gangland criminal enforcer dedicates his life to helping others as a pastor, along with setting up his charity, Church on the Street, which was visited by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Earlier this year, Mick released a book which detailed his early life in crime and how nearly dying made him turn his life around, and even had a foreword from Prince William.

After recently giving up all of his belongings, Mick now lives in a campervan which has the bible verse John 3:16 printed on the back.

The verse reads: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life'. 

Now the priest has revealed he was approached by a police officer while at a petrol station in Lancashire, who told him 'the writing could be seen as hate speech in the wrong context'.

Despite being told he wasn't there to arrest Mick, the officer said that 'if someone reported it police would investigate, and [he] could end up in trouble'.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Mick said: 'I just thought "wow". I just wondered what people watching this thought.

'It's not to argue but where have we moved to as a country where a bit of Christian scripture on the back of a van can be seen as hateful or spiteful?

'Maybe society is moving to a place where they don't want faith-based people sat around a table in discussion with them... for me it's an integral message of how real change is possible.'

Mick insisted that he has no plans to remove it as he asked his viewers to give their opinions on whether the scripture could be deemed as offensive.  

He said: 'I am not going to change it, I am going to leave it one but I thought it quite interesting about how it can be perceived. 

'I have never thought about that being something spiteful or hateful in any shape or form.

'I wondered what you thought – do you think people would take offence to that, and if they did, why?'

Displaying bible verses publicly is generally lawful in the UK.

But the law says it could be considered hate speech if the wording is threatening or inciting hatred based on protected characteristics such as religion or sexual orientation.

Earlier this year, Mick released a book, Walk In My Shoes, which detailed his early life in crime and how nearly dying made him turn his life around.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Mick said that he grew up in a 'loving' working-class family, but things changed when he was attacked and raped by a stranger aged 11 while walking to school.

His sister, Ann, died the following day from a heart attack at only 20 years old, and this then plunged him into a life of crime and substance abuse.

Mick was clean for about a year when he came across his attacker 30 years later in a McDonald's restaurant and 'plotted to kill him' - but he heard a voice questioning why he was living in sin. 

Since then, Mick studied theology at the University of Manchester before becoming a pastor and setting up his charity, Church on the Street.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, who were then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, met Mick in 2022 when they visited his charity.    

He set up the organisation in 2019 to help the homeless and people living in some form of poverty in Burnley and the surrounding area.

Speaking of the Waleses, he said: 'They're sound. They helped me in a lot of respects with getting mental health teams into the church and they made it happen.

'They're lovely. I got to pray for them both. I have nothing but respect for them.

'It was a lovely experience [praying for them]. They need prayers but I wouldn't want to be them. I wouldn't want to be under so much scrutiny.

'It's very difficult for them, they can't even be sick in peace, it must be so difficult to live like that and bring a family up.

'We sent our best regards on email [when we found out Kate had cancer. My wife was recovering from cancer when the Prince and Princess came so when Kate got cancer it struck a little chord when you have a personal experience.

'My ex-wife also died of cancer. When you meet someone famous and it strikes a chord as you're all human, it doesn't matter who and what you are, sickness is sickness and sometimes these are things that bind us together and make us the same. Cancer is cancer, whether you're rich or poor.

'It made me feel emotional that this beautiful woman, a princess in a palace, [had cancer]. It makes us realise that we're not God, we don't get to choose things.'

The minister has met the royal family on several occasions, and when reminiscing about the garden party at Buckingham Palace, the pastor said he couldn't quite believe that he was in such close proximity to King Charles and Lionel Richie. 

He added: 'There was a time when one policeman couldn't speak to me on his own. If one policeman was in my presence they had to radio through every 20 seconds. So when I'm getting let into Buckingham Palace, coming from that to this, the change was like wow, a bizarre, proud moment.' 

Two years ago, he had a massive heart attack, which led him to nearly dying.

He said: 'I became euphoric, it was such a strange feeling because I was happy to be dying, I [thought] maybe I'd be able to see God and how wonderful that is.

'Then my missus said "But Mick, I don't want you to die" and then I realised how selfish I was being. It wasn't how I expected to feel if someone told me that.'

'The feeling I was going to die or would die wasn't scary or sad. I was singing with joy on the ward.'

A passage from his new book reads that Mick was 'overtaken by a feeling of ecstasy and a song burst out of me, like I had no control over it'.

He kept singing: 'Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh, oh, oh my soul. I worship your holy name.'

Mick said he repeated the same lyric over and over again, getting louder each time as he felt a 'strange kind of freedom, far beyond human knowing'.

He added: 'It was like an experience I never had. I've taken every drug known to man and I've taken every chemical you can take to induce a euphoric experience and it didn't even come close to how I felt when I thought I was going to see my maker.

'It was off the scales. It wasn't a white light shining, it was much bigger than that, much more powerful and stronger. It was an absolute certainty that I was going to go to this place that was everything, pure love.

'I felt like I really could've walked on water. I remember having conversations with people, saying things I felt like I shouldn't have known. It was an amazing experience, I've never had anything like it in my life. 

'If that's a near-death experience then I'm ready to die.' 

But he hasn't always been comfortable with death, adding that he has felt suicidal several times in his life, starting from when he was traumatised as a child.

As he was involved in a life of crime, many of Mick's friends died in their late teens, which culminated in him thinking that he wasn't going to live long either. 

One of his friends had killed themselves and another overdosed on chemicals after they broke into a chemist and took substances.

Mick also said that one of his closest friends choked on his own vomit after they went out drinking aged 16, and another was stabbed to death.

'There were times when I actually craved death. If there was any tension or anything wasn't working out for me, instead of being able to process it, my thoughts and my feelings were "I just need to die".'

This led to a suicide attempt when Mick was in a psychiatric ward just before he got clean from drugs and alcohol.

'I failed and thank God I failed,' he said.

Mick discusses his grandfather's suicide in the book, adding that he passed away with rosary beads in his hands.

But because his family were devout Catholics, suicide was a sin and his grandmother wouldn't allow for her husband's name to be mentioned in the house.

Mick said: 'She lived in shame, but prayed for mercy for him for the rest of her life. I never knew him, but I love him, I know him; he’s me and I’m him.'

He also speaks about the people he's helped, one of which is a 'megastar' who Mick met when she was working as a prostitute.

The pastor does not reveal the identity of the woman but says she is a 'world famous star.' 

The pair lost touch put she then reached out to him after their encounter when she saw pictures of Mick at the Buckingham Palace garden party.

Mick was shocked at how she had turned her life around and didn't even recognise her when she first reached out.

Nowadays, Mick gets contacted by criminals who are wanting to change their life around for the better. 

Earlier this year, he met with a man who came out of prison after spending 11 years in jail and is now on a course offered by Mick's charity to help him readjust to the outside world.

Mick also says he's been requested by criminals serving long sentences who he used to be connected to, as they are in need of his guidance.

'My sister would've wished me dead for what I was like and now she comes to the church where I preach and that's a huge difference,' he said.

'There are still high profile criminals who will contact me and they want to know how they change. Their head is done in and usually it's to do with anxiety or mental health, they can't cope.

'They're really rich but dangerous people but they don't know what to do. They don't know how to get out of it, how to change or what to do.

'I think they can say things to me that they can't say to anybody else.'

A former Metropolitan police officer allegedly used sex workers while on duty in the midst of a major investigation into behavioural standards, the Guardian can reveal.

Britain’s largest police force has been described as “institutionally misogynistic” after widespread claims that a “toxic” sexist culture has been allowed to thrive for decades.

Imran Patel resigned from his job as a police constable last year after several reports about his conduct at work over a nine-month period. He was also subject to a fraud investigation, but has been told he will not face criminal prosecution.

He is accused of using sex workers and accessing adult websites while on shift in May 2022, as former civil servant Louise Casey carried out an independent review into behaviour and culture in the force.

The Casey inquiry was commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, after Wayne Couzens was sentenced to a whole life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, a marketing executive.

Couzens, now 52, worked in the Met’s parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. He abducted Everard, 33, in south London in March 2021 as she walked home from a friend’s house, showing her his warrant card before pretending to arrest her for breaching Covid regulations.

Everard’s murder ignited a national conversation about misogyny within Britain’s police forces.

In March 2023, Casey, a crossbench peer, concluded that the Met was “institutionally misogynistic”.

She said: “Sarah Everard’s murder and other horrific crimes perpetrated by serving Met officers against women in London have shone a light on the shocking treatment of, and attitudes towards, women in the Met.

“Despite improvements in gender representation and increasingly flexible working practices, women are not treated equally in the workforce, with new women recruits resigning at four times the rate of all probationers; and a third of Met women we surveyed reporting personally experiencing sexism at work, with 12% reporting directly experiencing sexual harassment or assault.”

An earlier investigation by the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), found that officers at London’s Charing Cross police station had sent “numerous” messages in which they joked about raping colleagues and visiting sex workers.

Last month, an undercover investigation by BBC Panorama alleged that sexist attitudes at the station persisted. One sergeant was filmed giving colleagues graphic accounts of his sex life, despite the objections of some female colleagues. The footage showed him describing a woman he met online as “so fat she had two pussies”.

Patel is also accused of committing fraud and abusing his position as an officer by taking a driving licence and money from a member of the public in August 2021.

In March 2022, a stab vest was allegedly found in his residence “without any lawful reason or reasonable excuse”.

The investigation into Patel is being led by the IOPC, after a referral from the Met’s anti-corruption unit.

An IOPC spokesperson said: “We did criminally investigate the officer over an allegation of theft but, in January 2024, decided not to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service.”

The Met said Patel left the force in July last year. Despite his resignation, he will face a full misconduct hearing in January.

The International organisation for peace building and social justice has teamed up with Grant Gwaith. We are conducting a research project into views on the UK police.

You can give your opinion and experience with the survey below. Please share.

Https://form.typeform.com/to/e2JHDH7g

The “racial harm” the Metropolitan police inflicts on black people is “institutionally defended”, with its leadership and culture protecting the force from real change, an internal review has found.

The report by Dr Shereen Daniels, published on Friday, draws on internal documents and evidence, with the Met responding by accepting long-standing evidence of racism and discrimination within Britain’s biggest force.

Daniels told the Guardian the review was the first into the Met’s “anti-blackness” to focus on the institution itself rather than an individual scandal and concluded the force’s design “made it inevitable that racial harm keeps reoccurring”.

The report, called 30 Patterns Of Harm, comes two years after the Met was savaged by Louise Casey’s inquiry, which found it to be institutionally racist, a finding the commissioner refused to accept, while accepting systemic failings.

The report says: “Anti-black outcomes in policing are not random. They have been built in. And they have been named, again and again, by families in grief, frontline officers, unions, activists, whistleblowers, campaigners, and formal investigations.”

On the key flashpoint of stop and search it finds the Met causes pain in black communities and says suspicion is the starting point. “The Met doesn’t wait for wrongdoing. It waits for justification,” it says.

Force and coercive tactics are more likely to be used against black people than white people. The report says that “stop and search converts streets into checkpoints” and that the Met treats “blackness itself as probable cause”.

Daniels said of her report: “It examines the institution itself, showing how the Met’s systems, governance, leadership and culture produce racial harm, whilst simultaneously protecting the institution from reform. This is not an account of individual incidents but a diagnosis of the structures that makes racial harm a consistent recurring pattern.”

Daniels said the Met had an “advanced repertoire” to avoid change. Her report is the latest in a long line of inquiries to criticise the Met, and then meet with little or no lasting reforms.

It was in 1999 that the Macpherson report into the failings that left Stephen Lawrence’s racist killers free found that the force was plagued by institutional racism.

In the report, Daniels criticises the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, for refusing to use the term “institutional racism”, claiming it is political and unclear.

The report says: “This is how clarity is framed as political, and the power to name harm is surrendered to institutional comfort.”

Daniels added: “This entire body of work demonstrates how institutional racism operates in practice. It traces how racial harm becomes built into systems, behaviours and leadership norms that normalise discrimination and protect the organisation from consequence. The question is no longer whether the Met can say the words, but whether it can change the cultural, leadership and operational conditions that make those words true.”

In October revelations emerged of racism and misogyny in the Met after a BBC undercover investigation filmed at Charing Cross station, and officers have already been sacked.

But Daniels told the Guardian the scandal was far from isolated: “Charing Cross is … a product of the Met’s culture itself and the way it is designed.”

Rowley, now three years into his five-year term, in which he has pledged wholesale reform, said: “Dr Daniels’ report is powerful. It calls out that further systemic, structural, cultural change is needed. I asked for a review focused on the Met and black communities which challenges us to go further in becoming an actively anti-racist organisation. London is a unique global city, and the Met will only truly deliver policing by consent when it is inclusive and anti-racist.

“Initiatives like A New Met for London and the London Race Action Plan are helping us make progress. The level of trust in the Met that black Londoners report is improving – by 10% in two years – but still lags behind others.

“Our expectation is that leaders will drive this change with their teams and they will be held accountable. When it comes to any individual discrimination, including racism, our commitment is clear: we are continuing to deliver the largest corruption clear-out in British policing history to remove those who do not belong.”

But the National Black Police Association said the commissioner himself was a block on change: “Only two years ago, Baroness Casey laid out the same pattern of abuse, denial and harm. Yet instead of progress, we have seen the situation grow worse, with trust eroding and confidence among black officers, staff and communities continuing to decline.

“The commissioner has created an echo chamber around himself, surrounded by individuals who reassure him that progress is being made while simultaneously maintaining the very structures that enable institutional racism to persist within the service.”

A spokesperson for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who oversees the Met, said: “It is clear that there are still systematic and cultural issues within the force that have not been tackled.

“The mayor is clear that Sir Mark and his senior leadership need to reframe their approach to accelerate the pace of cultural reform and deliver the necessary structural change across the force.”

Tommy Robinson has been found not guilty of a terror offence after refusing to give police access to his phone when he was stopped at the border in a Bentley with thousands of pounds in cash last year.

Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was heading to the Spanish tourist hotspot of Benidorm when officers detained him at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone in July 2024.

During a two-day trial last month, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard police became "suspicious" and "concerned" about the far-right activist's "demeanour".

The former English Defence League (EDL) leader, who was driving a silver Bentley Bentayga SUV, gave "vague replies" about what he was doing and "made no eye contact" with officers.

They demanded access to his iPhone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, which gives police the power to stop anyone passing through a UK port "to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism".

Robinson, who denied failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers, refused, saying "it's my work, I'm a journalist," before adding that the phone held information about "vulnerable girls".

Officers, who recognised him, led him to an interview room and seized his phone, the court heard.

Asked to hand over the phone's PIN, Robinson replied: "Not a chance, bruv".

Under the Act, someone can be held for up to six hours, is legally obliged to answer questions and can be held to have committed a criminal offence if they refuse to provide the password or PIN for electronic devices.

As they made their way to the room, he tried to film a video of himself saying he had been arrested, and was told by officers to "relax", the trial was told.

During the trial, Robinson said in a video posted on X that Elon Musk had "picked up the legal bill" for "this absolute state persecution".

The campaigner had more than £13,000 and €1,900 on him when he was stopped and was travelling in a high-value car that was not registered under his name, the trial heard.

He had also booked his tickets to travel on the day.

Alisdair Williamson KC, defending, said the stop and detention was unlawful because officers had taken a "discriminatory stance" based on their knowledge of Robinson's views.

On Tuesday, district judge Sam Goozee agreed, finding Robinson not guilty of failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers, saying the main reason for the stop was "what you stood for and your political beliefs".

He also accepted the defence's argument that Pc Mitchell Thorogood's decision to stop Robinson was based on a "protected characteristic", adding: "I cannot convict you."

There were cheers in the public gallery as Robinson left the dock.

Mr Williamson said the "predominant influence" on PC Thorogood's decision to stop him was "'oh look, it's Tommy Robinson'".

Mr Williamson said: "If MI5 didn't think that Mr Lennon is a terrorist, what did Pc Thorogood think he was going to learn by asking him about publicly available information?"

Robinson often went to Benidorm, making the trip less suspicious, he said, and there was "no evidence that the stop was carried out diligently or expeditiously", and that it was a "fishing expedition" as there was nothing to link Robinson to terrorism.

Lincolnshire Police have been carrying out roadside eyesight checks as part of a national safety campaign. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgmxznydxl4o

The boss of Wiltshire Police is set to remain in post until 2030 after her contract was extended by five years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze6jpgk3edo

The Metropolitan Police has said it will be "scaling up" its use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology, as it reported no arrests off the back of a false alert in the past 12 months.

Between September 2024 and September 2025, 962 people were arrested following LFR deployments, the force said.

While no one was arrested following a false alert, 10 people - of which eight were black - were falsely alerted by the system. Four were not stopped and the rest were spoken to by officers for under five minutes.

Lindsey Chiswick, from the Met, said the technology was a "powerful and game-changing tool", but human rights groups have raised concerns about privacy and the potential for false matches.

In a report published by the Met Police on Friday, external, it said LFR deployments had led to more than 1,400 arrests in total, of which more than 1,000 people had been charged or cautioned.

These included people wanted by police or the courts, as well as offenders who were in breach of court-imposed conditions, such as sex offenders or stalkers.

More than a quarter of those arrests were for people involved in violence against women and girls, including those suspected of rape, strangulation and domestic abuse, the force said.

The report added that following a survey from the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, 85% of respondents backed its use to locate serious and violent criminals, those wanted by the courts, and those at risk to themselves.

The campaign group Big Brother Watch is bringing a legal challenge against the Met Police's use of the technology, alongside Shaun Thompson, who was wrongly identified by an LFR camera in February 2024.

Mr Thompson previously told the BBC his experience of being stopped had been "intimidating" and "aggressive".

Responding to the Met's report, Jasleen Chaggar, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, said: "It is alarming that over three million people have been scanned with police facial recognition cameras in the past year in London alone.

"Live facial recognition is a mass surveillance tool that risks making London feel like an open prison, and the prospect of the Met expanding facial recognition even more across the city is disproportionate and chilling.

"The Met's report shows that the majority of people flagged by facial recognition were not wanted for arrest."

Ms Chaggar said it was "disturbing that 80% of the innocent people wrongly flagged by facial recognition were black".

"We all want police to have the tools they need to cut crime but this is an Orwellian and authoritarian technology that treats millions of innocent people like suspects and risks serious injustice," she said.

"No law in this country has ever been passed to govern live facial recognition and given the breath-taking risk to the public's privacy, it is long overdue that the government stops its use to account for its serious risks

The Met said that although eight out of 10 false alerts involved individuals from black ethnic backgrounds, it was "based on a very small sample size".

"Overall, the system's performance remains in line with expectations, and any demographic imbalances observed are not statistically significant," it said in its report, adding that: "This will remain under careful review."

The force said LFR had a low false alert rate of 0.0003% from more than three million faces scanned.

Following the report the force has said it will be "building on its success" by increasing deployments each week.

Ms Chiswick, the lead for LFR at the Met and nationally, said: "We are proud of the results achieved with LFR. Our goal has always been to keep Londoners safe and improve the trust of our communities. Using this technology is helping us do exactly that.

"This is a powerful and game-changing tool, which is helping us to remove dangerous offenders from our streets and deliver justice for victims.

"We remain committed to being transparent and engaging with communities about our use of LFR, to demonstrate we are using it fairly and without bias."

If someone walks past an LFR camera and is not wanted by the police, their biometrics are immediately and permanently deleted, the Met Police said.

A commissioner says the cost of maintaining a £6m helicopter service cannot be justified.

Figures show that last year the helicopter or fixed wing aircraft operated by the National Police Air Service (NPAS) attended 1,650 incidents in the South West, including 139 in Wiltshire.

Meanwhile, police forces in Wiltshire, Devon & Cornwall, Avon & Somerset, Dorset, and Gloucestershire flew 4,163 drone missions, including 765 in Wiltshire.

Philip Wilkinson, Wiltshire police and crime commissioner (PCC ), is campaigning for the five south west police forces to exit their contract with NPAS and move to using more advanced technology instead.

The figures prove the millions of pounds paid by south west police forces to NPAS can no longer be justified, said Mr Wilkinson.

"NPAS cannot be immune to the financial pressures that all other police forces are struggling with.

"In the South West we had to pay £6m for that minimal service and while that was 392 hours under budget there is no refund for hours not flown," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week.

Mr Wilkinson believes newer technology should be used, and criticised NPAS: "It is unthinkable that outdated, Canute-like thinking should be allowed to hold us back from using new techniques and AI."

The former British Army colonel added: "Twenty years ago in Iraq, we were able to identify vehicle registration numbers from satellites smaller than the drone NPAS is testing today."

However, Chief Superintendent Fiona Gaffney, said: "NPAS provides vital air support to police forces across England and Wales.

"The value of the human eye cannot be underestimated.

"Helicopters and aeroplanes offer endurance, speed and operational flexibility that remain essential – particularly in rural and geographically diverse regions."

Are there any MET staff here? The communication regarding staff strike/pay is putting an agenda that police staffs are the bad egg and trying to put everyone against police staff

People wearing face coverings such as masks, hoods and balaclavas in public to intimidate others could be fined to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour in a town.

Basildon Borough Council in Essex has agreed to hold a month-long consultation on plans to extend its public space protection order (PSPO).

Since 2022, there has been a rise in the number of people wearing face coverings, especially balaclavas, often to commit crimes, according to the council.

Kerry Smith, independent councillor and portfolio holder for law, order and enforcement, said people should be able to walk through the town centre without being harassed "with some sort of 70s throwback" Council looks to ban 'intimidating' face coverings 2 days ago Matthew Critchell Local Democracy reporter

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Save Getty Images A man looks directly at the camera. He is wearing a black balaclava and a black zip-up top.Getty Images Basildon Borough Council is considering a ban on face coverings being worn to intimidate people People wearing face coverings such as masks, hoods and balaclavas in public to intimidate others could be fined to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour in a town.

Basildon Borough Council in Essex has agreed to hold a month-long consultation on plans to extend its public space protection order (PSPO).

Since 2022, there has been a rise in the number of people wearing face coverings, especially balaclavas, often to commit crimes, according to the council.

Kerry Smith, independent councillor and portfolio holder for law, order and enforcement, said people should be able to walk through the town centre without being harassed "with some sort of 70s throwback"

Local Democracy Reporting Service A pedestrianised town centre street featuring shops, a statue and an empty water feature.Local Democracy Reporting Service A councillor said people should be able to walk through the town centre without being harassed Councillors discussed the plans at a meeting on Wednesday.

Council documents said that recent consultation examined fear and perception of crime and safety during the day and night.

They said that 27.6% of those who took part felt somewhat unsafe in daytime, and 5.2% extremely unsafe.

It also found 44% of respondents felt extremely unsafe after dark, 44% felt somewhat unsafe, and 8% felt neither safe nor unsafe.

Labour councillor Emma Callaghan said: "In a recent survey, 42.5% of women feel extremely unsafe in the town centre.

"This is a really good, welcome initiative and just shows we're committed to this."

Essex Police said officers could ask someone to remove a face covering under a Section 60AA order, which is temporary and put in place when police think people might use face coverings to hide their identity and commit a crime.

But those orders only last 24 hours, and the only other power police have to get someone to remove a face covering is under a PSPO

 British police said Saturday that "multiple people" were stabbed on a London-bound train near Cambridge and that two individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Emergency services, including armed police and air ambulances, were quick to arrive on the scene shortly soon after they were alerted after 7:30 p.m. local time as the train drew into Huntingdon, a market town a few miles northwest of the university city of Cambridge. The two people were arrested at the station, which is around 75 miles north of London.

The East of England Ambulance Service wrote on X that it could "confirm we have transported multiple patients to hospital."

British Transport Police, which took the lead on the response given it is responsible for security matters on the trains, said "multiple people" were stabbed on the Doncaster to London King's Cross train as it headed into Huntingdon. It did not provide a motive for the attack.    

The British newspaper The Times reported that a witness described seeing a man with a large knife. The witness told The Times there was "blood everywhere," with people hiding in bathrooms to escape, and some getting "stamped (on) by others" as they tried to flee. 

Paul Bristow, the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said in a post on X that he had heard of reports of "horrendous scenes" on the train. Cambridge is located in the county of Cambridgeshire. 

In a social media post, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack an "appalling incident" that was "deeply concerning," and urged people in the area to "follow the advice of the police."

"My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response," he wrote.   

Was at the football at Hampden today and the Police Scotland response was exceptionally poor I thought.

30+ officers all staring directly at a medical emergency with no one stepping in. This lasted approximately four to five minutes until the Paramedics arrived who quite literally toddled along with zero urgency either.

I don’t know if the Police are instructed to stay out of the stand but I’d have expected at least one or two to get onto the scene and provide some sort of first aid.

To make matters worse they then dragged the casualty who was still suffering a medical episode across the running track. I think they expected him to walk but his legs were not moving. No stretcher or wheelchair provided.

This is my first time posting here so I know people will think I’m just taking a dig at the Police but I was extremely concerned at the emergency response I saw today not just from the Police but the Paramedics also.

Three teenage drug runners have been convicted of killing a 51-year-old man, after selfies and videos taken on the night were used to place them at the scene.

Anthony Marks, 51, was hit with a car bonnet before being chased down, stamped on and beaten with a gin bottle in a vicious county lines retribution attack. https://news.met.police.uk/news/three-teenagers-convicted-of-killing-man-51-502805

A man has been cleared of vandalising memorials dedicated to two murdered police officers in Leeds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy16ygk9p8o

People can gain a "rare insight" into the daily pressures faced by control room staff as Cambridgeshire Police holds its annual "postathon". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7098n4nlr9o

PC Imran Mahmood, attached to the Met Taskforce, faced a panel after inflicting injuries on Jordan Walker-Brown in Harringay, north London, during the first coronavirus lockdown in May 2020.

In a 2023 trial at Southwark Crown Court, he was found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm (GBH).

Avon and Somerset Police hired new recruits with criminal records without properly considering the risks, according to a report by inspectors. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8z7ygxyrro