Fast action needed to protect women
The trial of Sarah Everard’s murderer revealed horrifying details about how he used his position as a police officer to falsely arrest and abduct Sarah.
Since then, police leaders have made ludicrous suggestions about what women can do if they think a male police officer might not be genuine. These range from calling 999 or waving a bus down, to “being streetwise” and not “submitting” to arrest.
Why should potential victims be responsible for preventing an attack? As a society we need to do better than advising women to take yet more precautions.
In B&NES we are looking at what more can be done to improve the security of public spaces and promote safety through education, following advice drawn from a crossparty working group of women councillors.
However, there is a limit to what
improving lighting (for example) can achieve. We need a profound change to the culture of all our institutions – particularly those with a history of failing to investigate patterns of behaviour or specific allegations and a culture of keeping things quiet.
I am writing to our local Police and Crime Commissioner and also to our Chief Constable to ask how procedures will be improved or put in place to vet police recruits and to ensure there is no culture that would risk giving cover to predators.
And we need to go further to tackle the national “epidemic” of violence and harassment.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has called for a Royal Commission into male violence against women and girls. I believe that we need this powerful public inquiry – independent of government – to help restore trust and bring about longlasting change.
I also support calls for misogyny to be immediately declared a hate crime. This would send a message that sexism and misogyny must be taken seriously by society, the police and the entire criminal justice system.
Our criminal justice system is badly failing women, and the Government must act with urgency to do more to support survivors and prevent violence.
Dine Romero
Bath & North East Somerset Councillor for Southdown Cabinet Member for Children, Young People, Communities and Culture