A Green Party candidate for Mayor of Hackney has declared it is time to dismantle the Metropolitan Police, following a powerful independent review that identified deep-seated systemic racism within the force.
Damning Report Highlights Institutional Failure
Last week, on November 7, a major review into the Met's systems and culture was published. The report, authored by Dr Shereen Daniels, concluded that racial harm is an inevitable outcome of the force's current design.
The investigation found that coercive and forceful tactics are disproportionately used against black individuals compared to white people. The report stated unequivocally that these anti-black outcomes are not accidental but have been deliberately built into the system, a point highlighted repeatedly by grieving families, activists, and previous formal inquiries.
Political Reaction and Call for Radical Change
In response to these alarming findings, Zoë Garbett, a Green councillor and the party's candidate for Hackney Mayor in the May 2026 elections, issued a forceful demand for structural reform.
Councillor Garbett, who represents Dalston on Hackney Council and also serves as a Londonwide Assembly member, called to 'break up the Met'. She proposed that its various directorates should be separated to facilitate a fundamental rethinking of public safety.
She elaborated, suggesting that national and specialist policing functions could be managed by a body distinct from local policing. Furthermore, she advocated for an independent body to oversee complaints and discipline, aiming to rebuild shattered public trust.
Local policing should be accountable to local communities, she argued, with a greater emphasis on preventing violence through substantial investment in youth services and genuine community engagement.
Context and Wider Political Landscape
Zoë Garbett has established herself as a vocal critic of the Metropolitan Police. In September, she demanded transparency regarding the force's response to the landmark 2023 Baroness Casey review, which had similarly labelled the institution as institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic.
Following a BBC Panorama investigation that exposed further instances of racism and misogyny among officers, Garbett called for the resignation of Met Commissioner Mark Rowley.
The incumbent Hackney Mayor, Caroline Woodley of the Labour Party, has also responded to the recent report. While her tone was more measured than her Green opponent's, Mayor Woodley described the findings as 'deeply concerning' and urged Commissioner Rowley to act with urgency to deliver tangible change.
She pointed to collaborative work with London Mayor Sadiq Khan to pilot a new Police Community Scrutiny Panel, underscoring a commitment to address institutional racism.
This issue is particularly resonant in Hackney, which was the site of a major police controversy in 2020 concerning the traumatic strip-search of a black teenage girl at her school.
The Daniels report is the latest in a series of investigations since 1999 that have found London's police force to be institutionally racist, raising serious questions about its future structure and accountability.
