Met Police Chief takes a tumble as he fails to ‘mind the step’ and slips up

Sir Mark Rowley recovered the fall on camera (Image: Sky News) Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley took a tumble before speaking at the Policy Exchange event in London this evening. The moment was caught on camera as he joked after “mind the step”. After the stumble, Sir Mark Rowley went on to discuss the Met Police force, claiming the number of officers and staff being sacked last October was “massively under-engineered”. Speaking at the event as he nears a year in the job, Sir Mark told attendees there is currently no way to sack officers who fail re-vetting. He told the host, broadcaster Sir Trevor Phillips: “There is no explicit provision in place within police regulations that if a police officer fails their re-vetting, that there is a route to dismiss them, which is clearly completely perverse.” The Government is looking into new regulations that will make it easier for force chiefs to sack rogue officers. In April, the force claimed sackings had risen by 70 percent in six months and suspensions had doubled as bosses moved to crack down on standards. Sir Mark led his speech with calls to “let the police police”. He said officers face “dispiriting oversight”, with their confidence to chase criminals undermined by the prospect of possible prosecution if a suspect is killed or hurt in a pursuit. Sir Mark added: “We need to empower and enable the 10s of 1000s of great officers with an oversight system which in future needs to act much more clearly without fear or favour, not getting blown around on whims of opinion. So officers know they’ll have the right support if they’re taking on dangerous people on behalf of the public. “Dispiriting oversight – unfair oversight – creates hesitancy in their minds and that undermines their ability to confront dangerous criminals.” Tom Whiting, acting director general at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: “These comments from the Met Commissioner are disappointing. We follow both the legislation and the evidence when it comes to deciding whether to launch criminal investigations, and to refer cases to the CPS. We do this without fear or favour, and will continue to do so. “With public confidence in policing at an all-time low we all have a part to play in rebuilding public trust, and part of that is ensuring that officers who break the law are brought to justice.”