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• Reference: 2020/4071
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 19 November 2020

In your press release of 28 July 2020 you state: ‘The Mayor is creating the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to help ensure London’s achievements and diversity are suitably reflected. Statues, plaques and street names largely reflect Victorian Britain…’ As a statement of fact, it is demonstrably untrue that London’s statues, plaques and street names largely reflect Victorian Britain, a period of only 60 years. London has a well-documented commemorative and location-naming timeline of at least a thousand years, which also stretches long beyond the Victorian era. Why would you suggest otherwise?

• Reference: 2020/3780
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 15 October 2020

How much in fines has so far been handed out by the Metropolitan Police to members of the public and businesses for violating the Coronavirus Regulations?

• Reference: 2020/2914
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

I note the report in the Daily Telegraph of 7 July 2020, which stated: ‘Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, is writing to chief constables saying the theft of goods valued up to £200 from a shop should be prosecuted as a criminal offence.’ 1 Has the Metropolitan Police decided that the shoplifting of goods of the value of less than £200 would not be prosecuted, if so who, when and why? 1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/07/victims-burglaries-assaults…

• Reference: 2020/2915
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

On 1 September 2020, Extinction Rebellion commenced ten days of action across the UK, to protest against climate change. In London, this has led to severe traffic delays, as the capital attempts to return to normality after Lockdown. Various stunts are taking place, including a ‘theatrical’ display on ‘how the climate crisis is causing death’, and a silent protest outside Buckingham Palace. Last year, more than 1,700 arrests were made during Extinction Rebellion’s ten-day ‘Autumn Uprising’, which saw major disruption across the UK and large parts of central London blocked off. How much longer will Londoners have to put up...

• Reference: 2020/2916
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

I note Haringey Borough Council are setting in hand the removal of the name of Rhodes from Rhodes Avenue Primary School - even though it was named after the philanthropist Thomas Rhodes, the great-uncle of Cecil Rhodes, the person who donated the land for the school, which today would cost tens of millions, who had no historical links to colonialism. Is this development a harbinger of the kind of decision-making we can expect from your Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm?

• Reference: 2020/2917
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

To ask the Mayor how many people have been arrested and charged for shoplifting in the Metropolitan Police District over the last five calendar years.

• Reference: 2020/2918
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

My Local Bobby (MLB) is a private company that puts former police officers on uniformed patrol in London. It charges as little at £50 a month per resident to dedicate an officer to local ‘microbeats’ (about three square miles) in London and stations officers from central London shopping locations to Woodford Green (where 139 residents pay to have their ‘bobby’, keep an eye out for crime). Employees are equipped with handcuffs, a body cam, a first aid kit and are trained to make citizens’ arrests. MLB is now pursuing private prosecutions of shoplifters, which the Metropolitan Police has apparently abandoned...

• Reference: 2020/2919
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

I note press reports that Metropolitan Police officers executed a vehicle stop on Saturday 4 July in Lanhill Road, London W9. Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her partner, the Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos were driving a Mercedes which was being driven on the wrong side of the road, at speed. Former Olympic athlete Linford Christie would subsequently accuse the Metropolitan Police of ‘institutionalised racism.’ Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick would tell the Home Affairs Select Committee that a senior officer representing the police had apologised to Williams for the distress the incident had caused her and said the...

• Reference: 2020/2922
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

On 1 August 2020, the ‘Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations March’ took place in Brixton, with individuals parading in the streets in black uniforms and stab vests. As you will be aware, the Public Order Act 1936 prohibits the wearing of paramilitary and political uniforms in this country. I am assuming that the senior Metropolitan Police officer in charge that day was also aware of this law. However, I feel that once again the police are sending out the signal that laws will be enforced differently for individual communities in London. This policy has profound implications for the future of policing...

• Reference: 2020/2923
• Question by: Peter Whittle
• Meeting date: 17 September 2020

The British police have serious institutional problems. Thanks to financial pressure and legal changes, they over-police low-level offending and under-police serious crime. The regular stream of videos showing police officers being abused by bystanders, while trying to arrest a suspect is a depressing sign of the times. I can’t help but feel the police themselves are partly responsible. In going woke, they have forfeited authority and respect. What changes are the Metropolitan Police going to institute to correct this error?