Every time I glance at the news, there seems to be another shocking revelation about the Metropolitan police service and the behaviour – or more accurately, misbehaviour – of its officers. Since the tragic killing of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the situation has become unbearable for women who are supposed to be able to rely on the police to protect them. In recent months, a concerning number of Met officers have been exposed as domestic abusers; two have been jailed for sharing sick photos of the scene where two women had been murdered; and many more have been dismissed for sexual misconduct and using the power of their warrant card for sexual gratification.
Despite all of this, I am actually pro-police. I’m desperate for the Met to regain its reputation as one of the most trustworthy forces in the world. I was proud to join the force back in 2004, spending 11 years as a police constable. I worked with many excellent officers who amazed and inspired me every day with their kindness, determination and courage. As a woman, however, I also experienced the other side of my male colleagues. I had hardcore pornography shoved in my face on a carrier full of uniformed riot police. I was forced to listen as male colleagues listed the women on our team in order of attractiveness. I heard female colleagues described as “prick teases”, “sluts” and, of course, “the team bike”. Did these things make me uncomfortable? Yes. Did I speak out? No.
There was, and still is, a culture of silence in the Met. The Independent Office for Police Conduct report published yesterday not only revealed the full extent of abusive, discriminatory and harmful attitudes within the Met, but also the very real fear among those who wish to speak out. I felt that same fear when I was a serving constable, the fear of being ostracised for speaking up, of being labelled as “weary”, of not being seen as “one of the team”. Yesterday evening, I discussed the recent press with a former colleague, one who still serves in the Met. Around 15 years ago he reported a senior officer for using a racist slur. No action was taken against the accused and my colleague has lived with the stigma of “reporting your own” ever since. He now wishes he’d stayed quiet. This is the message whistleblowers were being given more than a decade ago. I despair that nothing has changed.
One thing that hit me as I read the many messages exchanged between serving officers that were detailed in the IOPC report is how they referred to women in a derogatory manner. For a force that has been slated repeatedly in the last year for its treatment of women, and constantly struggles to achieve justice for the victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault (who are overwhelmingly women), this was yet another fracture in the confidence I once held in the Met.
One of the officers is reported to have threatened to “smack” his partner. Another reportedly said that slapping your partner “makes them love you more. Seriously, since I did that she won’t leave me alone.” How can we trust these officers to attend and report a domestic assault? How can a scared victim open up to men like these? Police officers deal with domestic abuse every day. They should know how serious it is. They are exactly the people who should treat it with the urgency and respect it deserves, instead of using it for a cheap laugh.
Another male officer told a female colleague that he’d “happily chloroform” her. Imagine how you would feel, already working in a male-dominated environment, being told by a colleague that they would “happily rape you”. Imagine not one male officer speaking up in your defence. Because that’s one of the things that needs to change if the Met, and society in general, is going to tackle misogyny. Officers need to stand up and challenge their mates.
Though the Met has denied it – preferring to blame “a few bad apples” (this apple tree must be getting lots of sunlight) – in my opinion the problem is clear. There is a culture of misogyny in the Metropolitan police. And yes, this is reflective of society, but the police are supposed to be unimpeachable. The police have powers that ordinary citizens do not have. These powers are dependent on the police having the trust of the communities they are policing.
Only three things will change this culture: men standing with women to stamp it out, officers being actively encouraged to report (and supported for reporting) unacceptable behaviour, and zero tolerance on sexual misconduct or discriminatory behaviour in the force. Without these, there is no hope of the Met ever regaining women’s trust.
Alice Vinten was a constable in the Metropolitan police for 11 years
