The new Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley said the force has a plan to turn its fortunes around.

Sir Mark claims major reforms are ready to be implemented after years of negative headlines about the Met.

He took over from Dame Cressida Dick, who resigned last year.

In a speech to guests at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in central London, on 10 January, Sir Mark said a draft version of the plan will be published soon based on findings of a staff survey.

A recent report suggested the Met’s anti-corruption systems were not fit for purpose.

A review of disciplinary procedures by Baroness Casey found officers and staff were getting away with misconduct and breaking the law, in a conduct system that is “racist and misogynist”.

The Met will also receive feedback from communities, partners and stakeholders before April, he said.

In his speech, he said: “We must change for our communities, and for our officers and staff who serve them. I expect to be held accountable for how that transformation of London’s police service evolves in the weeks, months and years ahead.

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“We have a practical plan for turning things around. We have tens of thousands of hard-working men and women who I know will ensure the Met delivers more trust, less crime and high standards.”

Sir Mark said the London force has started to change, including arresting more than 2,500 of the city’s key offenders and arresting more than 130 people for County Lines offences.

Sir Mark added: “Policing has not transformed at the pace that society has done over the past two decades – responsibility for that falls across police chiefs, regulators, policy makers, politicians, and others in the public sector.

“Think of the vast scale of the societal change we have all witnessed in the last two decades.

“Yet policing has remained in relatively the same structures and state.

“I think the future – you either have to put much more resource into the regional capabilities and standardise the governmental arrangements to make it a much tighter regional and national system with retaining local forces … or you go whole hog – so to speak – and you go for regional police forces.”