SADIQ KHAN has urged the Metropolitan Police to rebuild trust of the black community.

Speaking to The Voice, he said the force lacked the “trust and confidence” of black Londoners, and that internal police culture needed to be reformed.

His comments come as the Met police commissioner, Cressida Dick, gave a combative performance on BBC London radio earlier today, where she pledged to root out the racists in the ranks and rejected calls to quit.

Mayor of London Khan told The Voice: “When I speak to Londoners, particularly those that experience a lot of violent crime, they want to see more police to keep them safe. 

“But we need to make sure the police are on the side of the community and that is one of the reasons why we need to have a police service that looks like the city we’re seeking to police. 

“We need more black officers, we need more minority officers and we need more women officers.

“We need to make sure the culture in the police service is conducive to one where Londoners have confidence in the police service.” 

His comments stopped far short of calling on the Commissioner to resign, but were equally not an endorsement of her position.

Home Secretary Patel said the Commissioner’s position would become “untenable” if the mayor were to lose faith in her leadership.

In 2020, it was reported that the Met increased their use of section 60 stop and search, despite a fall in crime during lockdown. 

Shocking figures reveal that young black men were stopped and searched more than 20,000 times in London alone. This is equivalent to over a quarter of all black 15-24-year-olds in the capital. 

More than 80% of these searches resulted in no further action.

The use of stop and search in the black community has been criticised for many years. 

Khan said he doesn’t want to see communities “criminalised” at a young age. 

He said: “We need to make sure we are not criminalising at a young age Londoners for committing minor offences like carrying a bit of cannabis for personal use and so forth.”

Earlier this month, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed a series of racist, sexist and misogynist WhatsApp and Facebook messages had been discovered within the ranks of the Met Police.

The abhorrent messages were heavily slammed by the black community, with many calling for radical and serious changes in Britain’s largest police force once and for all.

Khan added: “That is why it is so important for us to redouble our efforts to earn back the trust and confidence that may have been lost in recent days, weeks and months.

“We police by consent, how can we expect Londoners to come forward a report a crime if they have been the victim, to be the witness of a crime, if they witnessed a crime or join the police service if the previous experience they’ve had with the police is not a good one?

“That is why it is so important to make sure that we work incredibly hard to have Londoners, particularly from minority communities, particularly black Londoners and particularly women Londoners, being confident that the police is on their side.”