Met to deploy undercover officers outside clubs
COMMISSIONER DICK SAYS SCHEME HAS HAD SUCCESS ELSEWHERE
THE Metropolitan Police has announced plans to station pairs of undercover officers outside pubs, bars and clubs in a bid to improve the safety of women and girls.
The Met’s plans form part of a strategy called Project Vigilant, part of the police force’s attempts to tackle violence against women and girls across the capital.
The scheme will be piloted in Southwark and Lambeth and will involve plain-clothes officers being deployed in pairs outside pubs, nightclubs and bars to identify “anyone who may be displaying predatory behaviour” in public spaces.
If officers see anyone they believe to be behaving suspiciously, they will then ask uniformed colleagues to step in.
Discussing the plans outside Brixton Police Station last Wednesday after a meeting with community groups, Commissioner of the Met Police Cressida Dick expressed her confidence that the plans would be well received by the public.
“Vigilant, which we launched a couple of days ago, has been very well received locally and people on the street, but also women’s organisations, have all responded positively to this,” she said.
“It’s not completely new, it’s been trialled in Thames Valley, it’s being used in a number of other police services and it has dramatically reduced offences of sexual assault and sexual harassment in, for example, Oxford city centre, so if it works there, why wouldn’t we try it here.”
The announcement regarding plans to tackle threats to the safety of women and girls across London come after the Met announced plans last month to deploy 650 officers into new town centre teams, to tackle crime in hubs around the city.
However, Project Vigilant has received strong criticism from women’s safety groups and charities, including Reclaim These Streets (RTS).
An RTS spokesperson said: “How can we trust Met Police officers to spot predators in bars and clubs if they can’t seem to spot and root out predators in their own ranks?
“The Met have lost the trust of women, and plainclothes officers will not win it back – instead for many women plainclothes officers outside bars is a sinister prospect.
“The Met should focus on tackling institutional misogyny instead of PR stunts like this.”
Rebecca Goshawk of the charity Solace Women’s Aid added: “At a time when trust in the police is so low, putting plain clothes into nightclubs is not the right focus.
“What we need the Met to be focusing on is systematic change which tackles perpetrators of violence and abuse in their own ranks and rebuilding trust with women.”
Commissioner Dick announced last month that undercover officers will be required to video-call a uniformed sergeant to prove their identity if they are ever required to stop a lone woman.
Concerns over interactions between police and female members of the public arose following the murder of marketing executive Sarah Everard by serving police officer Wayne Couzens in March this year. Couzens was sentenced to life imprisonment last month after he falsely arrest Ms Everard, before going on to abduct, rape and murder her.
Initial advice issued by the Met in response to concerns from members of the public over women who may feel unsure about someone claiming to be a police officer was to flag down a passing bus or run into someone’s house. The advice was heavily criticised.
In a statement, the Met said that the aims of Project Vigilant was to boost the number of criminals brought to justice and to also tackle incidents of sexual misconduct and domestic violence by serving Met police officers and staff.