A New Met for London Phase 2 Consultation

Dear Sir Mark Rowley, 

Re: A New Met for London Phase 2 Consultation Response 

Thank you for publishing the draft of A New Met for London Phase 2 and inviting feedback. As the MP for Wimbledon and a serving Merton Councillor, representing areas including Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Motspur Park, Merton Park, Morden, and New and Old Malden, I welcome the opportunity to share my views on how the plan aligns with the needs of my constituents and of London more widely. 

In my constituency, residents regularly raise concerns about persistent low-level crime such as shoplifting, mobile phone theft, and anti-social behaviour. These incidents, though often classed as minor, cause significant damage to community confidence. Local businesses across our high streets, from shops to hospitality venues, depend on a secure environment to thrive, and people deserve to feel safe at all hours of the day. 

People also express deep frustration at the lack of visible, consistent policing and at the sense that their concerns are not being acted upon or reported back to them. I have met with local police officers who have told me about the challenges of covering high street crime in Wimbledon after losing their dedicated town centre team. They have also expressed concern about officers still regularly being abstracted from our streets and redeployed to Central London. This echoes the broader pattern we have seen where neighbourhood policing numbers fell by two thirds since 2015. 

The consultation document is clear and comprehensive, but for many Londoners it will be daunting in length and detail. I would encourage the Met to provide plain-English summaries and borough-level explanations of what the proposals will mean in practice for local residents. Greater accessibility of information will help ensure that communities feel engaged with, and included in, the changes you are proposing. 

I broadly agree with the priorities set out in the consultation. The focus on community crimefighting, supported by neighbourhood officers who can target prolific offenders and reduce high-volume crime, is welcome and aligns with what I have been campaigning for as an MP. I strongly support the emphasis on community crime fighting outlined in the consultation. However, this must translate into tangible local presence. I have called for dedicated town centre police teams in Wimbledon, with officers focused on retail crime, anti-social behaviour, and the night-time economy. I have also advocated for night-time safety pop-up stalls in busy night-time locations and a local policing hub in Old Malden. These initiatives would demonstrate the kind of visible, community-embedded policing that residents want to see. As part of this local presence, it is also essential that residents feel empowered to hold their stalls in busy night-time locations and a local policing hub in Old Malden. These initiatives would demonstrate the kind of visible, community-embedded policing that residents want to see. 

As part of this local presence, it is also essential that residents feel empowered to hold their police service to account. Creating structured opportunities for local representative groups to review and challenge policing practices constructively would be an important step in strengthening trust and transparency. Such mechanisms would allow community voices to be heard consistently and ensure that local policing strategies are responsive to the needs and priorities of the people they serve. 

I also strongly support the emphasis on cultural reform within the Met, particularly improvements to vetting, accountability, and workforce diversity. Rebuilding trust after years of serious failures requires visible and measurable change in how officers are recruited, supported, and held to account. The closure of public-facing front desks, such as at Wimbledon police station (and across the borough in Mitcham), and reduced hours in Kingston, work against this trust-building effort. At a time when public concern about crime is growing, stripping away vital points of contact between communities and their police is short-sighted and counter-productive. 

I agree with the reforms proposed in the Fixing Our Foundations chapter to strengthen leadership, modernise HR and rostering systems, and improve officer wellbeing. These are important steps towards building a more effective organisation. However, these measures will only make a difference if they are accompanied by clear outcomes and a sustained commitment to transparency. The current uncertainty over the future of local police stations, including Wimbledon and Mitcham Police Stations, undermines confidence in these foundational reforms. With the Met facing a significant budget shortfall, I understand the financial pressures, but we need more officers on our streets, and they need local stations and bases from which to operate. Strong foundations must include maintaining the physical infrastructure that enables community policing. 

I welcome the ambition to put crime-fighting first by reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and ensuring that officers' time is focused on preventing and investigating crime rather than administrative or non-crime duties. This realignment of priorities is essential, and I encourage the Met to work closely with other public services so that issues such as mental health crises are dealt with by the agencies best placed to respond. However, this must not come at the expense of the slow dismantling of neighbourhood policing that we are seeing happen behind closed doors, without transparency or public input. 

On the broader question of whether the Met should spend more time on cutting crime, I agree that this must be the core priority. Londoners want to see real reductions in crime, and they want to know that their police service is focused on tackling these issues. However, this focus must include the ‘minor’ crimes that have a major impact on community confidence. Reported high rates of unsolved crimes embolden criminals, making them feel they can get away with it. This is particularly true in relation to car thefts, where perpetrators often act with impunity. Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure where they live and to have confidence that when they report a crime there is a decent chance it will be resolved. 

The performance framework is a useful starting point, but I believe it should be expanded to include more specific measures such as improvements in response times to local incidents, and victim satisfaction levels with particular attention to how ‘minor’ crimes are handled. I would also expect to see tracking of public trust and confidence as a central part of the framework, so progress can be measured not just in operational outcomes but also in the extent to which Londoners feel their police service is fair, responsive, and accountable to their local communities. 

A New Met for London Phase 2 represents a serious and ambitious plan that reflects many of the priorities Londoners share. I support its broad direction, but to succeed, the plan must translate into genuine local presence and engagement. This means keeping local police stations open and fully operational, ensuring officers are visible in town centres and residential areas, and maintaining dedicated local teams who understand and respond to community concerns. 

Yours Ever,

Paul Kohler

Member of Parliament for Wimbledon