The Women’s Equality Party (WEP) has launched a campaign calling for an independent inquiry into misogyny within the Metropolitan Police.
The campaign follows a report that revealed Metropolitan Police officers had joked about hitting and raping women and killing Black children in messages later downplayed as “banter”.
The messages, which came to light in an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation, were shared on WhatsApp and Facebook by officers based primarily at Charing Cross police station who worked on now-disbanded teams dealing with crime and disorder in Westminster.
The Met responded with a statement apologising for the “appalling conduct” of its officers and assured Londoners that it “does not represent the values of the Metropolitan Police Service”.
However, the WEP is now calling for the home secretary, Priti Patel, to “radically overhaul” the police service and launch a statutory inquiry into misogyny in our police forces.
As part of the campaign, the activists have placed fake police report signs across Charing Cross urging people to phone Patel and demand an inquiry.
The A-boards include quotes from a WhatsApp conversation between two police officers, in which they said:
Officer 1: You ever slapped your missus?”
Officer 2: “It makes them love you more. Seriously since I did that she won’t leave me alone. Now I know why these daft c**** are getting murdered by their sp*stic boyfriends. Knock a bird about and she will love you. Human nature. They are biologically programmed to like that s***.”
Mandu Reid, leader of the WEP, said: “We are tired of being told that it’s a few bad apples,” says Mandu Reid, leader of the WEP.
“How much more evidence does the home secretary need that misogyny is baked into our police forces? Unless there is a proper inquiry, with statutory powers, the culture in our police forces will never change.
“That means fewer women will come forward to report violence against them, and more perpetrators will get away with it - including police officers themselves.”
Reid continued: “Sarah Everard was murdered by a serving police officer, and the gravity of that crime and everything that has emerged since demands an intervention on the same scale as the Macpherson Report.
“It requires police leaders and politicians to stop burying their heads in the sand and take responsibility.”
Cath, the organiser of the campaign, added: “I want people to see the things that police officers say about women behind closed doors, so that they understand how hard it is for women to seek help and why charging rates for violence against women are at an all-time low.”
When approached by The Independent for comment, the Met directed us to its statement issued earlier this week.
