Sir Mark Rowley, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, is to put more bobbies on the beat as part of his plan to turn round the beleaguered force . In his first public statement after being appointed to the job on Friday, the former head of UK counter-terrorism policing pledged to “fight crime with communities – not unilaterally dispense tactics”. This is expected to see an increase in neighbourhood policing , a more targeted approach to stop and search focused on arresting high-profile offenders, and greater efforts to divert children away from gangs. He signalled his vision just eight months ago in a Policy Exchange paper where he criticised the Met’s “highly suppressive” approach to knife crime, involving a “disproportionate” stop and search rate and too few resources invested in community policing and proactive prosecution of drug gangs. As well as pledging more effective use of technology and data, Sir Mark also promised to be “ruthless” in removing … [Read more...] about I’ll put more bobbies on the beat, vows new Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley