THIS IS A VITAL MOVE THAT WILL HELP CHANGE POLICE ATTITUDES

I AM immensely proud of my decision in 2016 to categorise misogyny as a hate crime. It means women feel empowered to report all the toxic examples of sexist behaviour and know they will be taken seriously. I’m convinced that misogyny is on a spectrum that can lead to violence. Not everyone who starts by yelling: ‘Get your t**s out, darling’ will go on to sexual assault or worse. But the climate that says that’s normal is a breeding ground. It also forced my officers to look at their own behaviour. They realised it wasn’t OK to indulge in the casual sexism that had become, for some, second nature at work. After hearing reports from victims about sexism and harassment, I’d hear male officers ask their female colleagues: ‘This sort of thing doesn’t really happen to you, does it?’ They’d say: ‘Yes, all the time.’ When I first joined as a graduate trainee in 1986, there were constant humiliations. The duty inspector once ordered me to wear my skimpy white shirt without a jacket so everyone could see my breasts and snigger. The shirt went transparent in the rain. I might as well have been in a wet T-shirt competition. I was sexually assaulted at work — twice. The first time I was so junior I felt too fearful to complain. The second time, I told my chief constable, and the culprit’s behaviour was addressed. Despite improvements, parts of the service still suffer from a toxic culture that objectifies women. That’s why criminalising misogyny is a vital first step to make women safer and build confidence in our police force.