Met commissioner reflects on beneficial relationship with Asian police forces

The Met has “learned a lot” from regular exchanges with police forces in India and Pakistan, according to commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.

These exchanges have included assistance on individual cases, particularly those involving terrorism, taking place in London.

He also remarked that the majority of those arrested on terrorism-related charges have been “home-grown”, casting doubt on the impact of migration, particularly from refugees, on public safety.

Personnel exchanges have given officers in south Asia insight into how the UK’s largest police force maintains public order and conducts criminal investigations, Sir Bernard said. The College of Policing also provides training to senior officers in India, he added.

He said: “People sometimes assume that we will always have the answers and that others will learn, but we’ve also learned a lot from those countries about how they do things… And then of course we have individual cases and the threat of terrorism that we want to work on together. Foreign relations are not always straightforward but at a practical level for police we can often make things work.”