The precise circumstances surrounding the fatal police shooting of a young man in south London on Monday will take time to establish.
But the killing of Chris Kaba in Stretham has provided a tragic illustration of the challenges that the new Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley faces when he takes up his post next week.
So too have the blade killing early on Sunday of 17-year-old Shea Gordon — the latest in a long line of teenage knife homicides — after a reported mass fight in Bow and the fatal shooting hours later in West Kensington of 29-year-old Maximillian Kusi-Owusu, the fourth gun murder in the capital in two months.
On top of this, recent weeks have seen disturbing social media footage of a couple being violently mugged in west London, as well as a report lamenting low national clear-up rates for burglaries, robberies and theft, plus a fatal stabbing at the Notting Hill Carnival and predictions of a recession-fuelled crimewave.
All have contributed, in some minds, to a sense of lawlessness and criminal impunity at risk of getting worse. Ongoing problems with rape prosecutions, violence against women and surging fraud are further headaches.
That’s a difficult enough backdrop against which to take charge of Britain’s most famous police force. But Sir Mark also has to grapple with the unhappy legacy of the scandals that led to the ousting of his predecessor, Dame Cressida Dick.
It places immense pressure on him from the start, added to by demands this week from the outgoing Home Secretary Priti Patel for immediate improvements that learn from past “appalling mistakes” and a call from London Mayor Sadiq Khan for a “step change” in the Met’s culture.
Issuing edicts is easier, though, than delivering change, and while Sir Mark must ensure high standards pervade all ranks and improve community relations, particularly with black Londoners, further missteps in a force as large as the Met feel inevitable.
How he responds will be critical and reviving public confidence won’t be easy. Sir Mark, a respected former head of counter-terror policing, has a good track record. But he’ll need all his skills to succeed.
