INVESTIGATION EXPOSES No way would my girls join cops
Ex top policeman tells of sexism in the force
FORMER female cops – including an ex-chief constable – today lift the lid on the shocking extent of sexism and misogyny in Britain’s police forces.
They reveal a relentless bombardment of “locker room boys” sleaze and bullying while working with male staff.
And it comes as one male former chief constable says he wouldn’t even want his three daughters to join the police.
Former female officers have told us how colleagues…
■ Passed porn around among themselves while on duty.
■ Made comments about women they passed by on street patrol.
■ Cracked vile jokes about having sex with a missing woman.
■ Bumped into female colleagues to brush against their breasts.
These officers all worked for the Metropolitan Police now in the national spotlight because of the Sarah Everard case and the charges against one of its officers.
But in other forces around the
I think the police force attracts bullies.. I know many men in the police who commit domestic abuse ALICE VINTON LEFT THE MET AFTER 11 YEARS, SICK OF ITS MACHO CULTURE
country the picture is no better. Former Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy today drops a damning bombshell about police misogyny.
“I have three grown-up daughters. If a member of my family was attacked, I would probably say no they shouldn’t report it,” he said.
“There is no way my daughters would join policing. They wouldn’t be comfortable there.”
Backing him is Susannah Fish, a former Nottinghamshire chief constable. She claims misogyny in our police forces feed into the UK’s shockingly low rape and sexual harassment conviction rates.
Last year the CPS recorded its lowest number of convictions for rape – with Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird labelling it as the “decriminalisation of rape”.
Susannah said: “Misogyny is so ingrained in the decisionmaking. They don’t realise they are doing it and why.
“Even as a chief constable, I was patronised and dismissed by male colleagues. I would worry about reporting a crime against myself because I am not sure that it would be taken seriously.”
A Centre for Women’s Justice spokesperson said there is a “sexist or locker-room culture within the police service” and “stark failures in police investigations into abuse by officers”. Lawyers at the CWJ have been contacted by more than 100 women who claim to have been assaulted by a police officer since it launched a supercomplaint against forces last year.
Meanwhile, one ex-Met officer sacked after reporting an alleged sexual assault by a senior inspector still in post today speaks out.
The woman – who we are calling Jane to protect her identity – said: “My whole career was ruined. I was assaulted but I was the one blamed – and it left me suicidal.
“I am still having counselling. There is no real respect for women
in the police. You are ostracised as you are not one of the boys.”
Jane’s experience is backed by Nusrit Mehtab, 51, who was in the Met for 32 years and is suing for sexist and racist abuse.
And by Alice Vinten, 39, driven out by the effects of the macho culture on her mental health.
The former female cops come forward as figures reveal more than a third of 666 reports of domestic abuse-related incidents and offences perpetrated by police officers in the UK’s 45 forces came from the Met. But of the 246
recorded in the force over three years up to 2020, fewer than 5% led to convictions.
Our female officers say they are “not surprised” to hear a male cop guarding the Kent woodland site where Sarah Everard’s remains were found allegedly sent a sick meme about her killing to seven colleagues. Claims of the sick prank emerged just days after women at Sarah’s vigil in Clapham Common were manhandled by Met officers.
Jane, in her fifties, says: “Having a female Commissioner in Cressida Dick is complete window dressing.
It changes nothing about day-to-day attitudes women face in the force. One time we had a missing persons case and she was very attractive.
“Male officers were passing round her picture saying how fit she was and how she could be down in their sex dungeon. Once a police trainer was showing us how to shine our shoes as if ‘pleasuring a woman’.
“And male officers will deliberately brush past female officers just so they can touch their breasts.”
Nusrit, a former superintendent, claimed that as part of her police ‘initiation’ male officers left a vibrator
EXCLUSIVE BY AMY SHARPE
RAPE reports dropped by a third when a police force sent plainclothes officers to watch revellers.
They patrolled nightlife undercover in Newcastle city centre as part of Operation Cloak, the first scheme of its kind in the UK.
The pilot two years ago gave a glimpse of how things could work when the Government deploys officers nationwide in
in her locker. She said: “It’s a very masculine, very tough culture – and they feel they have to prove themselves as men. When you put all this into perspective, why would women feel comfortable coming forward to say what’s happened to them?”
Alice, who was a police officer at the Met for 11 years, told us: “I think the police force attracts bullies.
“I know of many men in the police
nightclubs and bars. Detective Chief Superintendent
Deborah Alderson, of Northumbria Police, said the scheme was trialled “to target predatory offenders”.
She added: “This work saw a 30 per cent reduction in rapes and serious sexual assaults in the city centre and was praised by the charity Rape Crisis and survivors of serious sexual who commit domestic abuse.” She told us of male officers passing around porn on shift and making sick comments about passing women while on street patrol.
The mum of two quit in 2015, saying the job left her “despondent”.
The second-highest number of domestic abuse-related incidents and offences perpetrated by officers were at Greater Manchester where 79 were recorded - which resulted in just one conviction.
Sir Peter Fahy slammed the criminal justice system as “built on
offences. We welcome the announcement a similar scheme will be introduced nationally.”
But Karen Ingala-Smith, the chief executive of domestic abuse charity NIA, said: “We need to focus on misogyny as a social problem and look at how men get ideas of sexual entitlement.”
Victorian principles”. He said: “It needs an overhaul.” Separate Freedom of Information figures also revealed that nationwide between January 2012 and June 2018, 562 officers were accused of sexual assault but only 43 faced proceedings.
The Met refused to comment on Jane’s case, but a spokesperson said: “We employ more than 40,000 officers and staff, and expect the highest standards from employees.
“While the allegations involve a small percentage of staff, we acknowledge the impact any offence will have on those involved. We continue to take allegations against staff extremely seriously.”
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “GMP is committed to providing all victims of domestic abuse with the highest standards of service. “Improving the safety, wellbeing and confidence of the public underpins all that GMP does.”