Sarah Everard

I see nothing wrong with the recent statement that advises people to flag a bus down and do all the other things suggested if they are concerned about their safety. At the moment it is advice and it's better than saying nothing. However, this advice does not tackle the real issue of making sure the public can trust the police. It merely puts the ball in the public's court. There should be some material changes in the way the police themselves operate so as to reassure the public. What those changes should be is debatable but my own daughter suggested two things which sounded to me quite commonsensical. The first is that police officers should never operate alone, they should be at least in a pair. The second is that when off duty all equipment, identification and clothing should be handed in. The idea that all officers are on duty when not at work would therefore be redundant. I can see problems with both of these suggestions but I wondered what people thought.

 

I think that both suggestions are eminently sensible. The second would ensure that the trappings of office are not used as 'props' to fraudulently lure unsuspecting victims. My idea of an arrest of a female suspect by an unaccompanied male officer being unlawful is a bit of a riff on your first suggestion. I'm not so sure about the 'off duty' point though. I think that even an ordinary citizen still has a common law duty to assist a constable upon request so I'm not sure that the idea of officers not intervening when not on shift could fly.

I think that the problem is that we are all desperately looking for some means of assurance that the dreadful scenario in this case could not be repeated. I suspect that there is little that could be done to provide a cast-iron guarantee that a sufficiently warped and devious person could not commit a similar offence. If Couzens had not had his warrant card and handcuffs with him might he still not have committed the offence, being (presumably) bigger, fitter and stronger than the victim? Thankfully it is exceedingly rare. So we are left with enacting whatever measures we can to make the commission of such offences that little bit more difficult.

As a final comment, it is grating to say the least to find the Prime Minister wringing his hands over this affair in this morning's papers. Across eleven years of Tory administration courts have been closed, sitting hours cut, and every single agency within the criminal justice system has seen reductions in staff. Claimed planned increases to police numbers will barely restore manning to it's 2010 level, even if you believe that these promises will be delivered upon. It is difficult to counter the growth in violence and sexual offences against women against this backdrop.

 

I think your final point should be the main focus. It’s about weeding put the sexist, racist etc police officers but to do that you need to change the entire culture, and to do that you need the appetite to be there from the very top. Dick’s comments to me show she isn’t interested in doing that, she’d rather give some ill thought out, almost victim blaming ******** than deal with the real issues.

 

The flagging down a bus advice is absolutely batshit crazy. One of the most stupid it’s of advice I’ve ever heard.

 

I believe that a lot of you should volunteer with your local force for a Friday night shift. You'll soon see just how impracticable a lot of the stuff you're advising actually is and you'll be shocked at the types of incidents you'll attend. Mental Health, Domestics (both male and female suspects).

For those saying that a single crewed male officer should not be allowed to arrest a female, you seriously need to get a grip on reality - the world from your armchair may seem all roses and lovely, but it's not. Officers (even male) have to look after themselves and (have families to go home to after their shifts) the public, and a lot of the time this means acting swiftly. Body worn video cameras are active for transparency (and evidence) and officers, generally on night shifts are double crewed anyway.

Officers on response do not have the time to randomly stop anyone, so generally if you're being stopped or spoken to or detained, it's usually for a good reason. An officer (again for safety reasons for then) will shout up on the radio, informing control where they are, who they are with, checks on said person and why they are with that person. If a single crewed male stops a lone female, lets say on suspicion of possessing drugs, dependant on the circumstances, practice usually dictates the officer requests a female officer to come and perform the search, and for an arrest, again for officer safety, an arrested person should be conveyed by two officers where this can be achieved.

Can you imagine how as a parent, or husband you'd feel if the police turned up on your doorstep and told you that your wife/daughter had done something/gone missing/hurt themselves/hurt someone else, all because the police couldn't act fast enough because of constraints. Believe me, one bad apple does not spoil the whole orchard - Couzens was a vile, abhorrent, evil creature - not a man, not a human and not a police officer.

 

Well he was a police officer.

 

Really? Out of my response, that's all you can reply with. Good for you. No, really, good for you.

 

At last Poet reply as some sense in it,some of the people on this forum live in la la land,one nutter who happened to be a policeman as done an evil act,so now all police are rapist/murderers ,wtf

 

And he is a man

 

Out of all the suggestions on here, if this became part of the standard, it could have legs.
Only bit I would disagree with is the bit of them being on duty, it should show as a registered Police Officer and register at control they have challenged someone.

 

Well, if we're all being 6 year olds, he was also a human being.

 

So we should do nothing then?

 

In what context - what's the situation?

 

And a man.

 

Yeah, keep up.

 

In the situation that a former Chief Constable yesterday said the police service are institutionally misogynistic and a young woman has just been murdered in a brutal and pre-meditated fashion by a serving officer showing a valid warrant card.

 

Did you still go to see your GP following on from the Dr Harold Shipman murders? I'll leave it at that, as evidently you've made your mind up. All the best.

 

I'm not sure that pretending there isn't a problem will greatly reassure people. Sadly, certain attitudes seem to prevail.

 

Are you speaking from experience or simply regurgitating what you've read online?