A former police officer has accused the Metropolitan Police of "tying itself in knots" over diversity initiatives while Londoners face soaring crime and dwindling frontline numbers.
Peter Bleksley, who served in the Met for two decades, said the force’s focus on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) had gone "too far", after it emerged the force will soon spend £5.2million a year employing 64 diversity staff.
"You had the Sikh Police Association, then you had the Muslim Police Association. And now you've got to the situation where there are special interest groups for just about everything you care to mention," Mr Bleksley told GB News.
"As part of the police’s position with DEI, they are now spending millions upon millions when services are shedding officer jobs.
Peter Bleksley said the Met Police is 'obsessed' with DEI
| GB News"It begs the question, what are their priorities? Is it preventing crime, catching offenders, or is it bowing to the tyranny of the DEI brigade?"
The UK’s largest police force currently faces a £260million funding shortfall and plans to cut 1,700 officers and staff, despite receiving extra money from City Hall and the Home Office.
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Mr Bleksley said Labour’s Government and the wider public sector had become "riddled" with DEI culture, claiming "nobody seems to apply any common sense".
"If common sense was applied, people were treated fairly, equally and robustly when they got things wrong or weren’t pulling their weight, we wouldn’t be in this situation," he said.
"You’ve got the Met, who have so many officers that don’t make an arrest in any given year, officers working from home, which I find staggering. Is it any surprise policing finds itself in the mess it’s in?”
It comes as the force faces criticism for its extensive “diversity calendar”, which includes events such as International Pronouns Day, Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness Day, and Be Kind to Humankind Week.
The force faces criticism for its extensive 'diversity calendar'
|GETTY
Mr Bleksley added: “When you now have 47 staff support networks in the police, including the Bisexual Support Group, the He For She gender equality movement, the Borderline Personality Disorder Network and 19 associations for various ethnicities, is it really any wonder that crime is rampant and the streets are increasingly dangerous?”
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan earlier blamed the funding crisis on the previous Conservative Government.
“The previous Government chronically underfunded the Met,” the London Mayor said in a statement in April.
“That’s why I’m announcing a record £1.16billion annual investment in the police from City Hall.
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“This historic increase will protect neighbourhood policing in our communities and significantly reduce the level of cuts the Met had been planning.”
William Yarwood, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said the force should "scrap the gimmicks and get back to basics".
"It's staggering that while Londoners are seeing stations shut and frontline police services cut, the Met still finds millions to bankroll a sprawling diversity bureaucracy," Mr Yarwood told the Daily Mail.
"Taxpayers expect bobbies on the beat, not endless networks, awareness weeks and 'life event' managers."
The Met Police is the UK's biggest police force, taking 25 per cent of the total police budget for England and Wales, according to its website.
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