The Sickening Comments From Met Police Officers About Rape, Domestic Abuse And Racism Expose The Rotten Core Of Misogyny In Policing

TW: The following article contains mentions of male violence, misogyny, racism and homophobia - including graphic quotes about rape and domestic violence.

'I would happily rape you.'

'You ever slapped your missus? It makes them love you more.'

'Getting a woman into bed is like spreading butter. It can be done with a bit of effort using a credit card, but it’s quicker and easier just to use a knife.'

You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d just accidentally slipped into one of the worst corners of the internet. But the deeply offensive words I’ve reluctantly repeated above aren’t the work of anonymous incels behind keyboards - they’re the contents of actual messages sent between actual Metropolitan Police officers, and which have been revealed in a report by the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) this week.

I won’t write any more of their sickening words here. Just know that they include multiple 'jokes' about rape, domestic abuse and sexual violence as well as racism and homophobia. What's the problem though, right? After all, when questioned, many of the officers involved in the exchanges dismissed them as 'laddish banter'.

The investigation was launched in 2018 and the messages are mainly between officers from a now-disbanded team at Charing Cross police station. Yet, tellingly, the IOPC said it believed 'these incidents are not isolated or simply the behaviour of a few bad apples'.

That took me straight back to June last year, when Met chief Cressida Dick gave a speech in the wake of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens.

There was, she said, the occasional 'bad ‘un' in the force but insisted: 'We are intolerant, and we set ourselves high standards in how we work to identify and tackle and prevent any such behaviours.'

Really? It rang hollow at the time. Now that 'one bad apple' defence has been blown out of the water and the Met’s deeply embedded misogyny exposed. There is clearly a serious culture problem within the force - the same culture problem that allowed Couzens to use his warrant card and handcuffs to falsely 'arrest' Sarah. The same culture problem that meant he was allowed to work for the Met after being accused of indecent exposure in 2015 and nicknamed 'The Rapist' by former colleagues (both in his previous job).

Chillingly, one of the officers involved in the new report had been nicknamed 'Rapey McRaperson' by Met colleagues. When the IOPC asked why, a fellow cop said it was because he 'harassed' women, while others shared rumours that he had brought a woman back to the station for sex.

Bad apples? Between 2019 and 2020, 160 officers in the Met were accused of sexual assault, harassment and sexual misconduct (only four have been 'suspended or restricted'.) Last week, a Met detective was jailed for three years after being found guilty on 19 counts of voyeurism. David Carrick, a Met officer from the same unit as Couzens, is currently facing 29 offences against eight women, including rape.

And who can forget the two Met police constables who sickeningly took photographs of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in June 2020 and shared them on WhatsApp - calling them 'dead birds'?

'Those police officers felt so safe, so untouchable that they felt they would take photographs with our murdered daughters… This illustrates the toxic underground within our police forces… Pure misogyny,' said their devastated mother, Mina Smallman, as the officers were jailed for 33 months in December.

Of the 14 officers investigated by the IOPC in this latest report, two were dismissed for gross misconduct, another two resigned and others faced disciplinary action. A Met spokesperson confirmed that nine were still serving in the force and one of those who resigned has returned as a contractor.

Oh and meanwhile? A record 63,136 rapes were recorded in the 12 months to September 2021 in England and Wales, but only 1.3 per cent resulted in a charge.

There's little wonder that women are seething.

These are the very people you’d hope to be able to approach if you needed help - rather than, you know, flagging down a bus. Of course, not every Met officer is involved and many will likely be shocked by what they have read. But, as Caroline Criado-Perez wrote at the time of the Sarah Everard case, 'for bad ‘uns to go undetected, a lot of good ‘uns have to look the other way.'

They have. In 2012, the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) published a report into police sexual misconduct, highlighting instances in which predatory officers might have been stopped by their colleagues, and recommending better vigilance and vetting.

That was a decade ago and, seemingly, little has changed.

'There's a job to be done to improve trust and confidence in policing for women,' said Cressida Dick last June. Her legacy will rest on what she does next. Whether she can step up to protect women and overhaul a police force that has not just one bad apple but a whole rotten core.

Claire is the editor of Telegraph Women

Read More:

Tackling Male Violence Is ‘Not A Priority’ Within The Police, Watchdog Report Finds

'Cressida Dick Must Go - But That Alone Won’t Address Police And Political Failures To End Male Violence'

Until We Admit The Enormity Of Male Violence We Won’t Be Able To Stamp It Out