Police watchdog boss admits she wouldn't approach a lone policeman at night as ex-Met Chief Superintendent says women PCs don't raise concerns about male colleagues' behaviour 'because they might not come to their aid when they need help'

[dalsingh101]

Police watchdog boss admits she wouldn't approach a lone policeman at night as ex-Met Chief Superintendent says women PCs don't raise concerns about male colleagues' behaviour 'because they might not come to their aid when they need help'

• Zoe Billingham reveals she has 'concerns and reservations' about approaching a male officer at night
• Can't say 'with certainty' that the murder of a woman by a police officer in Britain wouldn't happen again
• Former Scotland Yard chief inspector Parm Sandhu says male officers close rank against female colleagues
• Wayne Couzens's old boss Dame Cressida Dick is facing calls to resign in the wake of the murder in March

 

 

A police watchdog inspector today admitted she would have 'concerns and reservations' about approaching a lone male police officer at night with a problem, following the sentencing of Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens.

Zoe Billingham, a senior inspector with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, also said that she could not say 'with certainty' that the murder of a woman by a police officer in Britain would not happen again.

Her comments came as former Scotland Yard chief inspector Parm Sandhu warned how that in her experience, male officers close rank against female colleagues who raise concerns about their behaviour at work.

 

Ms Sandhu, who now mentors young women becoming officers, also told of her concern over how many women would feel confident in getting into a police officer's car, and described Couzens as 'a monster in uniform'.

Couzens's old boss Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is facing calls to resign in the wake of the murder amid demands for urgent action to restore the confidence of women in the police.

The Met instantly moved to distanced itself from Couzens yesterday before his sentencing had begun, referring to him as a 'former Metropolitan Police officer' in a statement despite him using his job and police belt to kill her.

Also yesterday, former DCI Simon Harding, who was a senior investigator on Miss Everard's case, said that 'police officers do not view Wayne Couzens as a police officer' and that he 'should never have been near a uniform'. 

Couzens was accused of indecent exposure in a branch of fast food restaurant McDonald's in Swanley, Kent, three days before Miss Everard died, but was not arrested or taken off duty while the matter was investigated. 

The 48-year-old had been accused of the same crime in Dover in 2015, while working as an officer for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. A motorist allegedly saw him driving naked from the waist down, but no arrests were made.

He also allegedly made female colleagues feel uncomfortable and was nicknamed 'the rapist'. Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating whether the allegations were properly dealt with.

Couzens, 48, who was sentenced at the Old Bailey today, strangled 33-year-old Miss Everard with his police belt after kidnapping her in South London under the guise of a fake arrest for breaking lockdown rules. 

Ms Billingham told BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour today that Couzens's actions had struck a 'hammer blow to the heart of policing legitimacy' and that she had the same 'deep, deep anger' that many people felt over the killing.

 

 

She added: 'I think this is a watershed moment for policing. I think we cannot abide by the narrative that this was a one-off, that he was a bad'un, and I think every force now in the country must look to re-establish trust and legitimacy.

 

+8

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Wayne Couzens, 48, was handed a whole life order today

'Because what Wayne Couzens did to Sarah Everard has struck a hammer blow to the heart of policing legitimacy in England and Wales.

'It needs to be treated as thus, and I would call on ever force in the country to now account immediately, not tomorrow, today to account immediately to its communities a to exactly what it is going to do to ensure that this can never happen again.'

Asked by presenter Emma Barnett how safe she would feel going to a male police officer at night with a problem, Ms Billingham said: 'At this moment in time, like any other woman, I have concerns and reservations, and that's why I say today we cannot dismiss Wayne Couzens as a one-off as a rarity, as an aberration.

'We must see every police force in England and Wales now stepping forward to tell its communities precisely what it's doing to ensure that women are safe. We have yet to see and say with certainty that this may not happen again.'

Ms Billingham's comments came two weeks after she published a report claiming that police chiefs should treat violence against women as seriously as terrorism and stop ditching an 'eye-watering' number of crimes.

Meanwhile Ms Sandhu, who lives in Sevenoaks, Kent, told Sky News: 'Throughout my service there have been incidents of sexism. I was lucky in that I've always managed to stand up for myself at a cost, and there have been hurdles.

'I still mentor young women who are joining the police service now. And you do have to be strong, you do have to be able to cope with these things and you do have to call it out.

'But unfortunately the majority of people who in the police service are men, so it's put down to banter and it's put down to 'oh, you can't take a joke'.

'So you have to be careful about which battles you fight, and I think that's why this monster got away with some of the comments and some of the actions that he did at this workplace, which is why they called him 'the rapist' at work.

 

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Sarah Everard, 33, was raped and murdered in March

'But no one was strong enough to actually take it any further, or strong enough to actually make him leave the organisation.'

She continued: 'My biggest concern now is how many women will feel confident in getting into a police officer's car. The police service must be able to protect and serve our communities. We are supposed to be part of the community... So in my view, something has to be done to rebuild that trust and confidence.

Ms Sandhu also said: 'This man is a monster in uniform who had got through vetting procedures, so we need to look at how are we vetting people.''

Meanwhile Dame Cressida is facing calls to resign, with Harriet Harman MP asking Home Secretary Priti Patel to take urgent action to 'rebuild the shattered confidence of women in the police service'. 

She has told Dame Cressida that she needs to step aside to 'enable these changes to be taken through'.

In a letter to Dame Cressida, the MP for Camberwell and Peckham, who is also mother of the House of Commons and chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, said: 'Women need to be confident that the police are there to make them safe, not to put them at risk. Women need to be able to trust the police, not to fear them.

'I have written to the Home Secretary to set out a number of actions which must be taken to rebuild the shattered confidence of women in the police service.

'I think it is not possible for you to lead these necessary actions in the Metropolitan Police. I am sure that you must recognise this, and I ask you to resign to enable these changes to be taken through and for women to be able to have justified confidence in the police.'

In a second letter to Ms Patel discussing the crimes of Wayne Couzens, she said: 'It is clear that there had been all too many warning signs about him which had been swept under the carpet. It cannot be rebuilt with the attempt to reassure that this was just, as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner said, one 'bad'un'.

 

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Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is facing calls to resign in the wake of the murder

'Women's confidence in the police can only be rebuilt with substantive and immediate change.'

She called on the Home Secretary to bring forward changes including:

• Immediately suspending officers from duty where there is an allegation of violence against women.
• Dismissing officers immediately when there is a conviction or admission of such a crime.
• Disciplinary action of gross misconduct, leading to dismissal, for failing to report fellow officers for an allegation of violence against women.
• Scrutinising someone's attitudes to violence against women, including engaging in violence during sex, as part of vetting of police recruits.
• Fresh checks on officers who transfer between forces for allegations of violence against women.
• Training for all current serving officers with a course to teach them to 'examine their own attitudes to violence against women and recognise signs in their colleagues'.

Anna Birley, co-founder of Reclaim These Streets, said 'very little' has changed since Miss Everard's death and she accused the Government of failing to protect women from violent crime.

The 32-year-old, who is also a Labour and Co-operative councillor for Lambeth Council and has helped organise vigils for Miss Everard and other women murdered in London, said a 'wholesale change within our criminal justice system' is needed.

She said: 'What's depressing is very little has changed. The Government needs to stop dilly-dallying and take tangible action to stop women from being killed.'

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10045531/Sarah-Everard-murder-Police-watchdog-boss-not-approach-lone-policeman-night.html

 

 

[Premi]

 

https://www.desiblitz.com/content/black-asian-police-officers-face-systematic-bias

 

 

The Met Police boss has called for hundreds of officers to be sacked after a report found that Black and Asian officers have faced ‘systematic bias’.

The force’s commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, responded to a report that also said 1,263 officers are still serving despite having multiple misconduct complaints against them.

Baroness Louise Casey is the author of the report.

It concluded that there is racial disparity across the system, misconduct cases are taking too long to resolve, and allegations are most likely to be dismissed.

Baroness Casey said the Met’s misconduct system is “not fit for purpose”.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/met-police-baroness-casey-sarah-everard-misogynist-sexist-b1032984.html

A

far-reaching review into the Metropolitan Police’s culture and standards has uncovered systemic failings that allowed too many “abhorrent” officers to remain on the frontline, reports claim.

Baroness Louise Casey’s probe was ordered in the wake of Sarah Everard’s kidnap, rape and murder at the hands of serving police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.

Her review took more than six months and investigated the force’s vetting, recruitment and training procedures.

 

In her report, released next week, Baroness Casey will say the Met must take a “zero-tolerance” approach to misogyny and racism and make sure offending officers to be sacked more easily.

 

"The line on what should qualify for dismissal needs to be redrawn," a source familiar with the review told The Observer.

 

Baroness Casey will argue that trust in the police has been damaged by the failure to identify and dismiss misogynists, abusers and racists.

“Much of what has got them in hot water has been the fact that they can’t sort out their misconduct system. It isn’t good enough," a separate source told the paper.

They added: “Although it’s about individual officers’ behaviour, it’s also an area where there are systemic problems. It’s about the Met setting out really clear standards of what is acceptable and what isn’t, and making sure everyone understands that.”

Following her appointment last October, Baroness Casey said: “Trust is given to the police by our, the public’s, consent.

[Premi]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63478011

Criminals and sexual predators allowed into police, says report

• Published
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• Sarah Everard murder

 

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA Image caption,

The murder of Sarah Everard, who was abducted as she walked home, sparked anger at the Metropolitan Police

By Tom Symonds

Home Affairs correspondent

 

Hundreds of police officers who should have failed vetting checks may be in the job in England and Wales, a damning report has found.

The police watchdog looked at eight forces and found decisions on officers which were "questionable at best".

One officer convicted of domestic abuse and one accused of sexual assault were among those accepted.

"It's far too easy for the wrong people to get in," said Inspector of Constabulary, Matt Parr.

Of 725 sample cases closely examined in the review, there were concerns about 131 officers cleared to serve in police forces - but the watchdog said the true total could be much higher.

The report also highlights misogyny and sexual misconduct, and was commissioned after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, which raised questions about police recruitment and vetting.

......

But the report adds: "Despite these results, we found a culture where misogyny, sexism and predatory behaviour towards female police officers and staff and members of the public still exists."

Vetting is meant to be carried out when candidates apply to join or transfer to a police force and then every 10 years, or every seven for sensitive roles.

Instead, the review found officers passed despite having criminal records, being suspected of serious offences, having substantial debts or having family linked to organised crime....

 

Longstanding failures

As long ago as 2011 a Northumbria Police officer was jailed for rape, indecent assault, and misconduct in public office. The vetting process did not reveal allegations made against him during his Army career.

Of the 131 vetting cases that the report raised concerns about, it said 68 of the officers should never have been allowed in at all. In the other 63, the report understood why police forces might have taken a risk on them - but said they needed special supervision and monitoring which did not happen.

Efforts to tighten the rules followed, but the HMICFRS investigation reveals ongoing cases where candidates should not have been cleared to serve as police officers, including:

• a candidate linked to drugs, guns, burglary and violent robbery
• another convicted of drink-driving, accused of intimidating a witness and of domestic abuse, where two women were both allegedly left with marks to their necks
• a man who had appealed his rejected application, claiming he had distanced himself from his criminal brother - but was later found to be living with him
• an officer allowed to transfer to a police force despite several allegations of sexual assault
• a man who had received a final warning for robbery after knocking an 80-year-old woman to the ground and stealing her handbag
• a man who exposed himself to the same woman on seven separate occasions and was convicted of indecent exposure when he was a juvenile. Six years later in the mid-1990s, the same man received an adult caution for making threats to commit criminal damage
• an applicant who had been investigated five years earlier for an alleged sexual assault offence at a nightclub - the victim's account included allegations of non-consensual kissing and touching of her breasts and vaginal area
• an applicant who was sub-letting a flat to a woman who used it for soliciting sex - he was inadvertently granted clearance on his third application due to an administrative error
• A police officer was allowed in despite having previously been convicted for attempted theft abroad
• A police officer who faced allegations over a number of years of improper sexualised touching of a member of the public and junior officers was successfully transferred to another force, based on the grounds the transferee would make the force more diverse.

[GurjantGnostic]

The tags on this thread are hilarious. 

Total tangent, Bhai Nand Lal Ji Vaaran are beautiful but don't match Gurbani always. 

It's a shame. Some of the non Gurmat passages are stunningly beautiful poetry. 

[Premi]