Do the right thing a hundred times, but screw up once...

The Independent has a story by Chris Greenwood:

When Sir Ian Blair took office on the 13th floor of New Scotland Yard, his wife Felicity gave him a heavy glass paperweight. It quoted Theodore Roosevelt's stirring words:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...

Sir Ian was fond of using the quote at formal commendation ceremonies at the Metropolitan Police's Hendon training centre. He would repeat the President's words on the value of "dust, sweat, and blood" to uniformed ranks of long-serving officers. As his last minutes as Britain's top policeman counted down, only Sir Ian could say whether that cold sphere of glass gave him comfort.
Everything changed for the commissioner on 22 July 2005, when Jean Charles de Menezes was mistaken for a suicide bomber and shot dead at Stockwell Tube station. In the three years that have followed, there has barely been a day that Sir Ian Blair has been able to escape the dead man's shadow. Sir Ian had survived the vitriol of Mr. de Menezes' bereaved family, press leaks and a series of critical official reports. He clung on with the support of the Home Secretary, the Police Authority and most of all his senior officers through a series of hurdles. But events of recent months, such as the the inquest into Mr de Menezes' death, raised questions over his stewardship.
Only today the Daily Mail printed further allegations about "vanity" business dealings with a close friend. Yesterday London Mayor Boris Johnson formally took control of the Police Authority, the Met's board of governors, and will chair his first meeting on Monday.
Mr. Johnson repeatedly avoided publicly backing back Sir Ian as he called for the post to be directly accountable to City Hall and the electorate. There is no doubt that the capital's new Tory regime wanted Sir Ian out and new members on the Police Authority may have tipped the balance against him.
Kit Malthouse, Mr. Johnson's second-in-command on policing, admitted initial meetings with Sir Ian were like "like porcupines attempting to mate". Under Sir Ian, the Met has become embroiled in an unprecedented race row triggered by claims from senior officer Tarique Ghaffur. Sir Ian stands accused of discriminating against him because of his race and undermining his role. There was uproar among some ethnic officers when the assistant commissioner was put on 'gardening leave'.
Several weeks later another senior officer, Commander Ali Dizaei, was suspended pending an investigation into his conduct.
These rows are not the first to face the modernising police officer, who took office in February 2005. A product of a new generation of graduate officers, Sir Ian's critics would soon dub him "New Labour's favourite police officer".
While Sir Ian turned his attention to neighbourhood policing and the introduction of community support officers, the eyes of his detractors were elsewhere. There were claims Sir Ian hindered the Independent Police Complaints Commission in the wake of Mr. de Menezes' death. A report would also criticise Sir Ian for his actions after the shooting and question why he was not told of the Brazilian's innocence for 24 hours.
A year later, Sir Ian sparked a furore after saying that "almost nobody" could understand why the Soham murders became the biggest story in Britain. The row led to him apologising to the parents of the murdered schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Sir Ian also sparked criticism by claiming the media was guilty of "institutional racism" in its coverage of murder investigations.
Then he was forced into another apology - this time to the then-Attorney General Lord Goldsmith - after it emerged he had secretly recorded a series of telephone conversations with him and senior IPCC officials.
In the wake of the row, he was given a clear warning from the Metropolitan Police Authority that his behaviour was unacceptable. He was then subjected to an unprecedented attack at the Police Federation conference from three key rank-and-file police leaders. Sir Ian has also been criticised for alleged lobbying in support of plans to extend the period of detention for terror suspects to 90 days.
A botched anti-terror raid in Forest Gate, East London, in June of 2006 did not help to relieve the pressure. Mohammed Abdulkahar was shot and injured as police swarmed into his family home searching for terrorist material that were never found.
More recently, Sir Ian has kept a lower profile as he battled rising gun crime and an increased murder rate, particularly among London's young people.
Criticising media coverage of knife crime, he once said: "People do not judge crime by statistics but by what they see on the street and on their way to work." As he leaves office, Sir Ian will not want to forget the final words of Roosevelt's phrase:

...if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.