Met Chief believes there should be a focus in preventing violent crime.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has “absolutely” agreed with Chief Constable Sara Thornton, saying there should be a focus on violent crimes.

On the Radio 4 Today programme, she agreed with Sara Thornton’s comments about how the police “do not have the resources to do everything”.

The Commissioner added that “violent crime is too high in London”, citing examples like terrorism, sexual offences and domestic abuse, and stated it will be her priority to attempt to tackle these issues.

Since 2010, police chiefs have said that police funding in England and Wales has been cut by nearly a fifth, and there are fewer than 20,000 officers employed by the police forces nationwide.

In an interview, Chief Constable Sara Thornton has said that “treating misogyny as a hate crime is a concern for some well-organised campaigning organisations”, and said that the force doesn’t have the resources to deal with everything. She also said that police are stretched to deal with “deserving” cases, such as misogyny.

Following on, Dick commented that certain things “may not be the job of the police and is not appropriate for [them] to deal with”.

Sue Fish, the former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One that Ms Thornton’s comments were “shameful”.

In reference to ‘tradition values’, she said that “policing by consent, local policing and in particular our core values of courage, professionalism, integrity and of compassion”

The Mayor of London and City Hall launched a new Violent Crime Task Force in April. The £15 million task force will focus solely on violent crime, weapon-enabled crime and serious criminality. Since being launched they have made 1,804 arrests, sized 438 knives, and recovered 323 offensive weapons, including 160 firearms. As well as the task force, an additional £140 million is being invested in the Metropolitan Police Force.