Sarah Everard’s death rocked an entire nation; the idea of a police officer whisking someone away on the street to their death is literally the stuff of nightmares.
Before being elected as a Labour MP I served as a Special Constable in the Met. My posting was Lambeth, an area that covers Clapham and Brixton and much of the route that Sarah was walking home the night when she was abducted.
I remember vividly the first briefing I ever had out of Clapham nick before going out on patrol. We were given a suspect’s details to look out for. There had been several accounts of a man sexually assaulting women in the area - sickeningly he would hold women down and lick them.
Details like that stick in the mind. When we’re walking down the street, even in the early evening, keys clutched between our fingers, our headphones in our ears with no music, occasionally risking walking down the middle of the road rather than on the same side as the footsteps coming up behind us.
For the largest police force in the country to tell us that if we have concerns we should flag down a bus rather than trust a lone police officer is harrowing
Growing up, I was told to find the nearest policeman if I ever felt in trouble. I know that advice hasn’t rung true for many people from minority backgrounds but for the largest police force in the country to tell us that if we have concerns we should flag down a bus rather than trust a lone police officer is harrowing. What confidence can women have to walk down the street at any time of the day when the people put there to protect us, tell us we should find a stranger if we have concerns?
I have worked with some incredible police officers; it should go without saying that the vast majority are brave, they are selfless and they are dedicated to public service and protecting lives. That’s why Labour support recruiting more officers, including 5,000 Special Constables and placing them at the heart of their community.
But while IOPC are investigating, the revelations around the preparator seem to show a troubling failure; in vetting, training and when he demonstrated warning signs that he should not be in a position of power.
That is why Labour are calling for an independent, comprehensive, swift, and fully transparent inquiry. The serious mistakes made with regard to the perpetrator must be identified, and there must be a wider investigation into how safeguarding, vetting and misconduct procedures operate and the culture within the wider policing workforce.
It is needed.
When I trained as a Special, it really struck me that the majority of my trainers were officers at the end of their career who were, to put it charitably, less than enamoured with policies on equality, diversity and the types of issues that are essential to building a healthy culture in any workplace, least of all one in which you are interacting with vulnerable members of the public on a constant basis.
Because you can put in place all the procedures and policies you like but unless you are ruthlessly focused on culture change and reform, they are meaningless.
That means demonstrating at every level the kind of values we want the police to demonstrate, from the top-down and at every managerial level.
I have spoken to too many police officers who have told me that those who blow the whistle or raise concerns are less likely to be promoted
It means that we should only allow people to progress to the next level if they have demonstrated they adhere to those values and are both capable and eager to instil them in those they manage.
But I have spoken to too many police officers who have told me that those who blow the whistle or raise concerns are less likely to be promoted and that promotions rely on relationships and patronage from senior officers. This is no way to challenge attitudes and change culture, let alone root out any so-called ‘bad apples’. We must change this culture, and that’s exactly why Labour are demanding independent, swift and fully transparent inquiry to look at precisely this culture.
But this problem must be rooted out in society at large too. Labour has set out a comprehensive strategy, including a series of laws which could be introduced tomorrow, to tackle Violence Against Women’s and Girls. The truth is, this Conservative Government has completely failed to keep women and girls safe. The Government should step up to the plate and take serious action rather than endless words.
As a former officer, I know the bedrock of policing in this country is that it is done by consent. People must have faith that the police are acting in the public’s interests and if that is going to be restored. The Government should be doing everything possible to demonstrate the change required, working with the Police to rebuild that faith. Never again can they allow those who wish harm to lurk within their ranks.