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Politicians must give police officers 'breathing room'

Politicians must give senior police officers "breathing room" to run their forces, the outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said on Friday, warning of the increasing politicisation of policing.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 23:23 November 28, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: Politicians must give senior police officers "breathing room" to run their forces, the outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said on Friday, warning of the increasing politicisation of policing.

Speaking on his last day in office following his resignation last month, Blair said two decades ago high-profile police incidents were treated as a matter for senior officers alone.

"That is not where we are now. That has changed out of all recognition because crime is so significant," he told reporters.

"I think what we need is both of the major parties to give the police a bit more breathing room and recognise how extraordinary the achievements are."

Blair said crime in London had fallen by almost a fifth during his 46 months in charge, despite the police battling terror at one end and antisocial behaviour at the other.

"An unarmed service, reducing crime at a rate that has never been seen before, with public confidence going up...now those are the areas we want to be concentrating on, not specific events, specific failures."

Blair, 55, announced his resignation at the beginning of October after effectively being asked to step down by new Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson. He still had 16 months to go before the end of his five-year contract.

Blair had endured repeated criticism of his leadership and his handling of major investigations. He had also come under fire over one of his own incursions into politics when he had backed an unsuccessful Labour attempt to extend the amount of time terrorist suspects can be held without charge.

He had faced months of negative headlines over the mistaken killing by anti-terrorist police of a Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, on the London Underground at Stockwell in July 2005.

'Not a victim'

Blair admitted the upper reaches of Britain's largest police force have "got a bit like politics" and said he felt he had to resign after Johnson made it clear he did not support him.

"I don't see myself as a victim. I don't see him (Johnson) as a villain. As I said before, I just see this as - there comes a moment when you have to take hard choices."

Despite enduring a stormy time in office since taking over as head of the 31,000-strong force in 2005, Blair said it had been "99 per cent enjoyable'.

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