The very real danger police pose to women

LET’S just forget for a minute the many failings by the police in regard to Wayne Couzens, sentenced to a whole-life term for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Failings which include nothing being done despite Couzens being nicknamed “the rapist” by colleagues, having already been questioned about an alleged sex offence shortly before he killed Ms Everard, and the Met missing a 2015 allegation of indecent exposure linked to Couzens  during his vetting process. And that’s just what we, the public, are privy to.

Instead I want to look at the ‘advice’ given to women by the Metropolitan Police after Couzens' sentencing. Because it is, quite frankly, farcical.

Firstly, if we are stopped by a lone officer, as Sarah Everard was, we are supposed to ask:

 

Where are your colleagues? 

Where have you come from? 

Why are you here?

Why are you stopping or talking to me?

Yes, because if this lone officer is intent on doing harm these questions are really going to stop him aren’t they? They will prevent him from strong-arming a woman into handcuffs and shoving her into his car. I’m sure we all feel safer knowing we can ask these questions without said police officer becoming angry at our refusal to simply comply and most likely threatening us with resisting arrest or an equally spurious charge.

And of course this fails to address the very real likelihood of two police officers acting in concert. Probably not to murder, but it’s not implausible to believe they could be planning to assault or sexually assault a woman. Unlike Couzens they may not have had that intention as they set off to patrol the streets but there cannot be many who have not seen or heard of police abusing their positions in this manner.

The figures speak for themselves. Nearly 1,500 accusations of sexual misconduct, including sexual harassment, exploitation of crime victims and child abuse, have been made against police officers in England and Wales over six years.

Of these only 371 were upheld, resulting in the sacking or resignation of just 197 officers, special constables and PCSOs. The largest force, the Met, accounts for 594 complaints, of which 119 were upheld, leading to 63 dismissals, retirements and resignations. Presumably the retirements mean they receive their pensions and the resignations leave the officers concerned to find similar work.

This is the police, an organisation which is supposed to serve and protect us.

But back to the lone police officer and further advice from the Met. Apparently, after asking all of the questions above and even asking to use their radio to speak to an operator, if they fail to allow us to do any of this and we feel in imminent danger we should seek assistance by “shouting out to a passer-by, running into a house, knocking on a door, waving a bus down or if you are in the position to do so calling 999.”

Quite a few assumptions here. One, that we are not alone on the street and that a passer-by will be willing to confront a policeman; two, that we cannot actually run into a house, we must first hammer on the door and hope that somebody answers, and many of us know how unwilling residents can be to become involved in something they consider to be none of their concern; three, that we are on a bus route and that one is coming, which, given the more than 3,000 bus services in England and Wales which have been reduced, altered or withdrawn over the last ten years is doubtful; four that a bus will actually stop when it sees somebody waving it down and as most of us know bus drivers will not stop unless you are at a bus stop; and five, that we are able to take our phone out and dial 999 when, by that point, we may already be restrained.

That’s not even the worst of it. What I found very disturbing was what Philip Allot, the Police, Fire and Crime commissioner said when speaking of the Sarah Everard case: “So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t be arrested. She should never have been arrested and submitted to that.”

Submitted. Clear victim-blaming. But is he saying that if we are arrested on what we see as an inconsequential matter we should resist? Only yesterday I saw a video of an officer wrestling a woman to the ground and when her friend tried to intervene, first a woman police officer came to the aid of the policeman and then another male officer actually kicked the friend and sent her flying. It was pure luck that she was not injured.

Allot added: “Perhaps women need to consider in terms of the legal process, to just learn a bit about that legal process.”

So, they are putting the onus on women to learn about the legal process, not on their own officers to behave in a manner befitting their positions.

The Met has said: “Sexual misconduct and abuse of authority for sexual purpose will not be tolerated in the Metropolitan Police service, and its prevention and reduction are priorities for us.”

I’m sorry, but it’s fairly obvious to us all that these are just words attempting to placate an angry section of the public. Their actions tell us otherwise.

And while many, including Harriet Harman, Tory MP Caroline Noakes, and Diane Abott, have called for the resignation of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, others, including the establishment Labour leader Keir Starmer, have, rather predictably, not.

A great time for Labour to launch their Labour Friends of the Police isn’t it?