Felicia Roberts
The College of Policing for England and Wales are in the midst of outlining new policies in order to manage harassment and racism within the force, after several scandals made news headlines.
Police leaders have admitted that there have been cases where officers who should have been dismissed due to harassing and attacking of women were actually kept on duty.
Data published by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and ITV show that a massive 80% of UK police officers accused of domestic abuse kept their jobs. However, officers who show violence towards women and girls will soon be fired from patrol, after the College of Policing reviewed penalties for such breaches.
This report comes after a string of incidents where women and girls have been harmed at the hands of a police officer.
Minor attacked in broad daylight
“she was CS sprayed and struck with a baton 34 times in the space of a minute”
In May 2019 a vulnerable 17 year old black girl with learning difficulties was on a group-escorted walk from her mental health unit in Newham Hospital. Once becoming distressed, she ran off alone and flagged down a police car. However instead of receiving help, she was CS sprayed and struck with a baton 34 times in the space of a minute by PC Benjamin Kemp.
When another officer made it to the scene, the young girl was immediately tasered and handcuffed before being put into the police car. The identity of the girl has remained anonymous and the CCTV footage unseen as to protect her. PC Kemp was sacked from his role in 2021 however no mugshot was revealed and no criminal charges were held against him.
The Murder of Sarah Everard
Sarah Everard was walking home from a friends house at 9:34pm on 3rd March 2021 when she was abducted by Met Police officer Wayne Couzen.
During sentencing, Lord Justice Fulford declared that there had been “significant planning and premeditation” by Couzen as he spent at least a month travelling from his home town in Kent, to London to organise his crimes. The officer collected equipment, such as a hire car, protective film and rubble bags, a few days in advance and after a 12 hour shift he went on a hunt for a random lone, young woman to torture.
Couzen seized Everard under fake arrest for breaking Covid-19 rules and took her on a 2 hour drive from London to Dover, where he then raped and murdered the 33 year old before dumping her body in a near by pond. The police officer was sacked and was handed a whole life order for his crimes.
Private texts between colleagues
Metropolitan police are under fire after official investigation curated by Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) revealed disturbing and discriminatory text messages shared between police officers.
These vulgar texts included “banterous” discussion about hitting and raping women, specific female colleagues were also referenced. One horrific series of texts were sent directly to a female colleague and read: “I would happily rape you”; “if I was single I would actually hate fuck you”; and “if I was single I would happily chloroform you.”
The text messages shared also contained talk of turning “African babies” into dog food; comparing the Holocaust to killing flies; boasting about beating up “Somalian rats”; included homophobic slurs and repeated mocking of non-Christian faiths, Black Lives Matter and disabilities.
“The culture of bullying appears to have been accepted and not challenged.”
14 officers were investigated during this inquiry, which began 4 years ago after a police officer had sex with a vulnerable woman inside the police station. Only two were dismissed for gross misconduct. A further two resigned from their roles and an undisclosed amount of officers received disciplinary action. The IOPC concluded: “We believe these incidents are not isolated or simply the behaviour of a few ‘bad apples’… The culture of bullying appears to have been accepted and not challenged.”
Changes being implemented
The Metropolitan Police Service’s Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan states that, in order to combat violence against women, their goal is to further gender representation in the police force by aiming for 40% of their new recruits to be women, rising to 50% in 2023. According to the action plan, 6,800 front line officers successfully underwent training that improved their response to domestic abuse claims, including recognising coercive and controlling behaviour, with a heavy focus on trauma awareness.
Image by Gerry Popplestone via Flickr. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
