Roving police squads who target men catcalling women in the street with fines are likely to be rolled out across London, a Met chief has said.
Chief Inspector Louise Jackson said she was in “no doubt” the undercover teams, who hand out £100 penalties to those seen harassing women, would soon be based across the capital.
The scheme is currently underway in Redbridge, with patrols every night of the week by both uniformed and plain clothes officers.
Signs have put up across the borough warning that “cat-calling is now an offence” as part of the council’s ThisHasToStop campaign.
Ch Insp Jackson, who leads on violence against women and girls in East London, told the Standard: “The focus at the moment is about educating men and young males around putting a stop to this behaviour.
“When a woman feels uncomfortable, when she feels like she’s being harassed or made to feel vulnerable, we tend to have to change our direction or change our routes or head in the opposite direction.
“What we’re saying now is this is about educational and generational change.
“If we start getting this message out now, hopefully years down the line it will become the norm. I’d love to see this rolled out across all London boroughs at some point. And I have no doubt that will be the case.”
Redbridge council said it is stepping up its task force after a survey of 1,834 women in the borough found 91 per cent said they had experienced catcalling and 62 per cent reported being followed by a man.
The area saw the horrific murder of Zara Aleena, 35, last year.
The aspiring lawyer was followed by stranger Jordan McSweeney, who beat her to death near her home in Ilford.
Redbridge became the first London borough to hand out a £100 fine for catcalling in December.
Its CCTV control room runs targeted women’s safety shifts where they identify lone women walking home late at night, scope the area around them for threats and send officers out to check they are alright, or speak to men they think could be following them or who are acting suspiciously.
From September, teams will be going into schools in the borough to speak to boys about treating women with respect.
When the Standard went on patrol with the safety squad in Ilford town centre we witnessed one man being spoken to on suspicion of harassing women and other members of the public. When he allegedly spat on a female police officer he was arrested and later charged with assaulting an emergency worker and being drunk and disorderly.
Councillor Khayer Chowdhury, cabinet member for enforcement and community engagement, said: “The campaign puts the emphasis on men changing their behaviour and not women. We are the first council in the country to implement this kind of scheme and others need to adopt it. We’ve seen a change in behaviour already.”
Nadia Ali, 38, who grew up in Redbridge, said: “I have experienced catcalling, I have experienced harassment unfortunately. And I think the younger me was always quite scared to speak out.
“This campaign is absolutely amazing and I think I’ve already seen a change myself. I have nieces who are 20 and 25 now and they both have to go from home to Ilford Station and they’ve noticed these posters and they’ve come home saying they feel a lot safer.”
Tomas Delio, 37, who works in Ilford, said: “It’s a good thing if women feel safer on the streets. But there’s a lot of problem with gang crime and young boys in east London as well. I hope as much effort is being put into helping them too.”
