I think they are yet another privileged group that gets good press, a little bit like nhs doctors. They mess up a lot but are protected by strong unions and a generally compliant media. Like doctors they also complain about pay yet have very good pay from day one with excellent perks such as a good pension, early retirement and job security.

It's not just the Met.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-55586420

The uncovering of all these police whatsapp groups has revealed what they are really like, behind the mask of respectability. They want us to believe it's just a few 'bad apples', but in reality they have a toxic culture, which emphasies toughness and encourages a lack of empathy for victims. They also have a heavy drinking culture.

The thing that really makes me laugh, is that the PPU officers, who worked alongside people like Wayne Couzens, cannot spot the signs of risk in other police officers. If an SO used 'offensive' language, or displayed any hint of anger, or hostility towards women, for example, then the PPU would treat them as a high risk, who needs intensive monitoring. But if their fellow police officers use the exact same language, then they say it's "just banter" and nothing to worry about.

Bottom line is this. If you are a man who hates women, then you should be considered a risk to women, regardless of whether you have a conviction or not, These men should not be working in the police force. So I would suggest two things. First, better psychological vetting of new recruits, including a risk assessment, to screen out the ones who have toxic attitudes.

Second, better monitoring of serving officers. Make them subject to the same intrusive scrutiny, that SOs have to put up with. Serving officers should be forbidden from deleting their internet browsing history and made to register all the internet enabled devices that they own, for example. That way, they can be monitored for indications of thought crime. If they want to go abroad, to a high risk country like Thailand, then they should be risk assessed first, to stop them committing offences overseas. Maybe they should receive un-announced home visits from other officers every year too, just to make sure they are not up to anything, like substance abuse or domestic violence.

Really what I am saying, is that the police have demonstrated that they are just as much of an at risk group, as the SO that they are employed to monitor.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16923900/police-officers-criminal-convictions-burglary-assault/

Unlike other forces, the Met always seems to appoint someone who has waited patiently for their turn. Many bureaucrats are very good at dealing with admin problems, but when it comes to dealing with real people and their issues, they struggle. I bet she had hoped she could just see her time out and retire. She's already a Dame, so maybe she won't get a life peerage after all. Wow, what a severe punishment! On the other hand, though, maybe she will get it anyway.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

She epitomises everything that is wrong with the public sector in this country, very little output in exchange for a very high paypacket and pension; same as the cps, hmrc, homeoffice, you can take your pick. 

I'm not a big tinfoil hat guy but I do believe there is some kind of scandal or something under the surface which forced her hand to step down. She was adamant she wasn't going anywhere and then 5 hours later announced she was stepping down? Especially if you take into consideration some of the failings of the Met under watch that you mentioned and how she didn't step down after them.

Being up in the land of the haggis the Met doesn't have much effect on me but I can't help but feel a bit disheartened every time a bad news article is posted about the police doing something wrong and I inevitably go "Is it the Met? Oh look, it's the Met".

Cressida Dick is probably the most useless Met Leader in history with a string of failings as long as your arm. Perhaps uniquely she has managed to antagonise both the left and right with the numerous cock ups under her watch.

Her failings include but are probably not limited to: Jean Charles de Menezes, Operation Midland fantasist/Carl Beech, Extinction Rebellion protests, Sarah Everard murder and vigil, The Daniel Morgan inquiry, The Euros Wembley Final, the Sue Gray report.

And that's before we get some of the worst rates of violent crime we've ever seen in London and the levels of racism, sexism and homophobia which appear to be rampant within the force and a culture which resulted in, for example, police photographing and sharing the pictures of murder victims on WhatApp.

If leaders are held responsible for the culture set on their watch and held responsible for the failings of their organisation you have to wonder how on earth she had her contract recently renewed.
Better late than never....