Don’t believe macho image of the Met, women told

WOMEN may be discouraged from joining the police because terror attacks have made the profession look too “macho”, the head of the Metropolitan Police has said.

Cressida Dick said that the major terror incidents throughout 2017, as well as the Grenfell Tower fire, portrayed police as male-dominated because of a largely male firearm officers response.

Ms Dick made the comments at a service of thanks at Westminster Abbey yesterday, attended by 2,000 people, to mark 100 years of women police officers in the Met.

“We have observed that the major incidents in 2017 have portrayed an image of a very physical service [and] people have got it into their heads you have to be supremely fit or strong, a sort of macho image, when actually the vast majority of our officers, most of the time, are not using huge

‘There is still some way to go for some parts of the wider public not to see policing as a male-dominated job’

amounts of physical strength to get the job done.

“They are using their communication skills, their problem-solving skills and their analytical skills,” Ms Dick told the Evening Standard.

“Of course, we need confident, resilient people but I think there is still some way to go for some parts of the wider public not to see policing as a male-dominated job.”

There are around 8,000 women currently serving in the Met, representing roughly 27 per cent of the officer workforce. But Home Office figures show the Met has the third lowest proportion of women officers compared with other UK forces, with the City of London and Cleveland being the worst offenders.

Ms Dick recently said that she wants half of London’s police officers to be women.

A major part of her female recruitment drive is focusing on ethnic minorities. She added: “In some of our minority communities, there will be more questions asked about joining the police than there might be in others.

“We are working hard to address this, for instance our Association of Muslim Police has lots of capable women officers.

“It is working really hard to get the message out that Muslim women can thrive and have a really important role to play.”