A memorial for Sarah Everard, surrounded by flowers and candles, with an image reading "Never Forget Sarah Everard". [Labour Proposes Mandatory Sexual Violence Training For Police]

Content Warning: This article contains details of sexual violence.

Iris Brown

The Labour Party has proposed that all police officers in England and Wales should receive compulsory training on violence against women and girls.

The proposal follows the release of the Angiolini Inquiry, an investigation into how police officer Wayne Couzens was able to abduct, sexually assault and kill Sarah Everard in March 2021.

Couzens used deception to detain Everard by showing her his police warrant card and handcuffing her, despite not being on duty at the time of the assault.

Couzens had indecently exposed himself in public on three occasions prior to Everard’s murder, but faced no consequences. He also had a history of viewing extreme violent pornography.

He was sentenced to life-term imprisonment for the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard, but was still paid as an officer until his guilty plea, upon which he was subsequently dismissed.

WHAT THE INQUIRY FOUND

Everard’s murder, and the police response, sparked a national conversation about violence against women and the failures of institutional responses.

Public trust and confidence in policing have reduced following the incident.

The Angiolini Inquiry found that police who responded to Couzens’ previous sexual offences did not have adequate training to respond appropriately, despite the offences being serious in nature. This meant that Couzens was able to offend during his time in the police and remain a serving officer.

“…it is likely that the murder of Sarah Everard would have been prevented if these offences had been properly investigated.”

The inquiry also determined that vetting processes failed to pick up his previous offending.

When Couzens applied to the Metropolitan Police Force in 2018, his record was clear and his car was not flagged as linked to a case of indecent exposure in 2015. A vetting process later carried out following his arrest identified this link.

The Metropolitan Police Department concluded the original vetting process either did not reference the Police National Database or recorded Couzens’ record incorrectly.

The Inquiry also found the Kent Police Force that responded to Couzens’ 2015 offence should have recorded Couzens’ details on the Police National Database.

Couzens reoffended in 2020, indecently exposing himself to a woman in a wooded area. The woman provided information to police via an online form, but no lines of enquiry were investigated.

A car located near to the offence matched the description of Couzens car, and the victim was able to recall the vehicle registration in part.

The car was never linked to Couzens because the police failed to follow up. Couzens was therefore never officially linked to the incident.

The Inquiry determined it is likely that the abduction, assault and murder of Sarah Everard would have been prevented if these offences had been properly investigated.

The report warned that without significant changes to police culture, there is “nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight.”

RESPONSES TO THE INQUIRY

Everard’s case is not an outlier. There have been multiple incidents of violence against women in the UK by police officers.

Sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibba Henry were stabbed to death in a park in 2020. Two Metropolitan Police Officers responding to the scene photographed the women’s bodies and shared the images to a WhatsApp group.

“A series of catastrophic failings have underlined why we urgently need proper training for the police.”

Reports of sexual crimes in the UK have increased, but rates of arrests and convictions remain low.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “The Angiolini report suggests that rather than being a one-off problem there are fundamental failings in police vetting, recruitment, monitoring and training.

“We need wholesale changes so that people like Couzens are never let in through the door of a police force. In government, Labour would make police reform a priority with a package of measures to instil the very highest standards of vetting, ethics, behaviour and performance in the service.”

“A series of catastrophic failings have underlined why we urgently need proper training for the police to deal with violence against women and girls,” she continued.

“That means mandatory national standards so that all forces are following best practice.”

LABOUR’S NEXT STEPS

Labour’s proposal aims to better inform policing staff on how to effectively respond to cases of gender-based violence, increasing their ability to identify warning signs and patterns of abuse so preventative measures can be taken.

The party also plan to bar anyone with a history of domestic abuse or sexual offending from becoming a police officer.

This would ideally lead to increased confidence in policing practices and increased reports from victims.

Under Labour’s new proposal, former Police Chief Constable Olivia Pinkey would advise the compulsory training scheme.

Currently, individual police forces determine the level of training officers receive on violence against women.

However, there is little academic evidence that more training correlates to better outcomes.

The solution of more training has also been called into question.

Training is often delivered internally and based on operational and anecdotal knowledge, as opposed to academic understanding and evidence-based approaches. It is often provided by former police officers.

For domestic violence support in the UK, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or access resources here.

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Featured image courtesy of duncan cumming on Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here. 

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