Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Cressida Dick, on Thursday said she was resigning, having lost the support of the capital's mayor.

Public confidence in the police force has been rocked by numerous scandals, including revelations about bullying and discrimination within the force and allegations of institutional corruption.

The resignation also follows the abduction, rape, and murder of a woman, Sarah Everard, by a serving member of the Metropolitan Police. 

What did the police chief say?

Dick, who is Britain's top police officer, said she had "no choice but to step aside." Her announcement came after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he no longer had confidence in her leadership.

"I say this with deep sadness and regret," Dick, who had been set to stay as head of the service until 2024, said in a televised statement.

The police chief said it was "clear that the mayor no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue."

Dick said she would stay in post for a short time to "ensure the stability of the Met."

She acknowledged the Everard case in her resignation statement, saying this and "many other awful cases recently have, I know, damaged confidence in this fantastic police service".

Dick, who became the first woman to head London's police force in 2017, defended her role and the work of her force. She concluded by thanking her fellow officers for the "extraordinary efforts you make each and every day."

The announcement comes as the police force investigates the "Partygate" scandal surrounding Prime Minister Boris Johnson over alleged parties held in breach of coronavirus restrictions. The force has faced criticism for not investigating the allegations earlier. 

Mayor 'not satisfied'

Mayor Khan said Thursday he was "not satisfied with the commissioner's response", after a meeting last week, where he insisted that broad changes were needed to "root out the racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination and misogyny" in the force.

Khan said he had made clear to Dick the scale of the change he believed was urgently required to rebuild Londoners' trust. 

"It's clear that the only way to start to deliver the scale of the change required is to have new leadership right at the top of the Metropolitan Police," Khan said.

Stream of negative headlines 

The resignation follows a report last week by the UK’s Independent Office for Police Conduct. It condemned misogyny, bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment among some dozen officers, at one central London police station. 

That report followed a series of instances for which the commissioner received criticism. 

Dick was herself criticized over her force's initial failure to investigate alleged parties held at Downing Street and other government offices. Dick later confirmed the Metropolitan Police would indeed investigate. 

In June last year, the Met was described by an independent inquiry as institutionally corrupt by an inquiry established to review the murder of private detective Daniel Morgan in 1987. Dick was personally censured for obstruction by the inquiry. 

The Sarah Everard murder had already raised questions about how such a crime could be committed by a serving police officer. However, the force's handling of the aftermath — including its handling of a vigil for the victim that led to clashes and arrests — also garnered criticism. 

The murder came nearly a year after two sisters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, were stabbed to death by a man in a Satanic-inspired attack. The force was criticized for not initially taking reports of the sisters' disappearance seriously because of their race. 

Two police officers were later jailed for taking unauthorized photographs at the crime scene, which they shared with colleagues in a WhatsApp group.

The force has also been criticized for the way it investigated decades-old allegations of sexual abuse by prominent people.

Earlier in her career, Dick was the commanding officer in a 2005 counterterrorism operation soon after the 7/7 bombings that killed 52 people in the English capital. Police shot dead an innocent Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, after mistaking him for a suicide bomber. Dick was cleared of blame by a jury.

rc/fb (Reuters, AP, AFP)