Met Police Middle of the Police League Table

4.23.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 16th Jun 2004

Scotland Yard Metropolitian Police HQ

A survey of police forces by independent inspectors has put the met in the middle of the 43 police forces in terms of overall performance. It was rated "excellent" for handling major incidents and "good" for tackling serious crime, "reassuring the public" and 9 other measures but a below average "fair" for burglary, and handling telephone calls from the public.

Vincent Cable, MP, who has worked on police matters as Chair of the All Party Police Group (he recently stepped down to Vice Chairman so as to concentrate on his work as Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor) said that "the league table measures sound about right. The professionalism of the Met when dealing with a major incident is really outstanding but I do get a lot of complaints about the slow and unsatisfactory response to 999 and other calls; particularly in cases of reported vandalism or disorderly behaviour, which are not life threatening but seriously affect the quality of life".