Case by case, the idea that the police’s problems with women is the result of a few bad apples rather than a misogynistic culture gets harder to maintain.
The revelations about the hate-filled messages among officers sent via WhatsApp and Facebook at Charing Cross station in central London are exceptionally sickening in their nature.
The culture of the past that was supposed to be banished has now moved into the digital and social media sphere. New technologies, old problems. But even inside the Metropolitan police, some believe it is a wider problem.
“People have to look at the tree,” one Met insider told the Guardian. “You have to look at the leadership.”
In the report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) about Charing Cross, there are two sections that will alarm policymakers who say they want change, such as police leaders and the home secretary.
The police watchdog noted the offensive messages and bullying was rooted in culture: “We believe these incidents are not isolated or simply the behaviour of a few ‘bad apples’.”
Police leaders say they encourage whistleblowing, but the IOPC concluded officers did not believe their speaking up would be taken seriously, nor would they be protected from reprisals: “It is recognised that reporting a colleague comes with significant personal risk and knowledge of colleagues’ poor experiences who have done the same can prevent other victims from coming forward and embolden perpetrators to continue their behaviour.”
There was one small glimmer of hope: when the IOPC and Met leadership directly appealed to officers at Charing Cross to come forward and report wrongdoing, several did.
Given the confidence, the majority of officers were prepared to take a stand against those who were capable of displaying such hatred and venom to the public they serve.
The exposure of the Charing Cross hate messages was discovered when the IOPC was investigating another allegation.
Recent cases show problems in other forces. In January 2022 alone, a former officer in Northumbria was jailed for inappropriate contact with a woman; a Greater Manchester officer was found guilty of misconduct in public office over a relationship with a vulnerable female victim of crime; a former officer in North Yorkshire was found to have abused his position for a sexual purpose; an officer in Surrey was found to have had an inappropriate relationship with a woman; and a Thames Valley officer was charged and appeared in court over alleged inappropriate relationships with women.
The renewed focus on women and policing was triggered after a serving Met officer, Wayne Couzens, kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021. Women’s groups saw it not as an aberration, but the most clear cut example of attitudes polluting policing and the service women get.
The IOPC is examining two forces, Kent and the Met, over whether they missed chances to identify Couzens as a potential threat to women before he attacked Everard. The investigations involve claims he indecently exposed himself and that police failed to track him down despite chances to do so. In Kent’s case it was six years before the attack; in the Met’s case, just days before.
For police leaders trying to rebuild trust, the worst may be yet to come.
