We are now well-versed in news reports announcing that UK police officers are being convicted of sexual abuse-related offences.
David Carrick, now former Metropolitan police officer nicknamed by colleagues as ‘B*stard Dave’, pled guilty to 85 serious offences, including 48 rapes, during a 17-year period. Carrick was identified by one of his victims in October 2021 after she reported his attack on her. This came almost immediately after the sentencing of Wayne Couzens, another (now former) Met police officer (again) nicknamed by his colleagues as ‘the rapist’, who kidnapped, raped and murdered 33-year-old marketing executive, Sarah Everard in March 2021.
There is undoubtedly a culture of misogyny in British policing. Following Couzens’ arrest, (now former) detective sergeant Giles Kitchener circulated an “annotated image of a police officer with the title ‘Police Signals Know Your Signs’” on WhatsApp, two days after the abduction of Sarah Everard. The image referred to a police officer killing a lone girl. Kitchener was also found guilty of other incidents of misconduct including racism, misogyny and homophobia. Kitchener was dismissed on grounds of ‘gross misconduct’.
In 2021, two Met officers were jailed for two years and nine months following their dehumanising acts of taking photographs of the bodies of murder victims, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry. The sisters had been stabbed in a park where they had been taking photographs together. The two officers shared photographs of the sisters’ bodies and uploaded them to a WhatsApp chat, referring to the women as ‘dead birds full of stab wounds’. From the angle of the photographs, the two officers, Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis would have risked contaminating the crime scene to take the photographs. Their actions stripped the two women of their dignity in death. Jaffer resigned from his post in August 2021, with Lewis being sacked by a disciplinary tribunal. The three officers who received the photographs continue to work in the Met, despite not reporting the photos to their bosses.
Two further Met police officers have been jailed following racist, misogynist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and ableist messages shared in a WhatsApp group. Still serving PC Jonathan Cobban and former officer Joel Borders talked about ‘struggle snuggles’ after pinning a 15-year-old girl to the floor during an incident, with one suggesting he would ‘rape and beat’ one of his fellow female police officers. Their defence was that the ‘jokes’ were ‘banter’, and had been misinterpreted by the prosecution. Wayne Couzens was a member of this WhatsApp group.
The Guardian reports that more than 150 current Met officers are being investigated over sexual misconduct or racism. Open Access Government has stated that the Met announced that a total of 1,633 cases of alleged sexual offences or domestic violence involving 1,071 officers and other staff are being assessed from the last ten years. While the number shows a move towards investigating serious allegations, it is also incredibly worrying that this number only consists of officers serving in the London boroughs. It does not take into account abuse across the whole of the United Kingdom.
We are conditioned to believe that the police are a transparent entity for lawfulness and ‘the good’. In this belief, we place a level of trust. The police hold a position of power and authority, and it is clear from the few cases mentioned above that power has been abused.
The fact that these police officers received prison sentences is slightly comforting as it suggests a level of accountability. However, each of these men had previous reports to the police of abusive behaviour or publicly displayed sexist, racist and/or homophobic views. Carrick was reported to the police nine times between 2000-2021 on allegations of rape, domestic violence and harassment. Couzens was accused of indecent exposure in June 2015 and November 2020. Jaffer, Lewis, Cobban and Borders all publicly took part in sexist conversations with other officers on a messaging app. The unnamed officers then protected themselves and the offenders by not reporting their behaviour.
Current Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, announced that ‘the government will do whatever it takes to root out misogyny and predatory behaviour from the ranks of the police.’ Braverman admitted ‘failures within the Metropolitan Police’ which allowed Carrick to continue to abuse. However, The Independent reports that as of January 2023, 40% of the UK general public no longer trust the police.
This lack of trust is entirely justified. Following Sarah Everard’s death, women across the UK held vigils in her memory. One such vigil in Clapham Common was violently broken up by Met police on the grounds that they feared it had become an ‘anti-police protest’. The images of women being wrestled to the ground and arrested by police at a vigil for a woman killed by a police officer are harrowing. The actions of the Met during the vigil were disrespectful and came from a place of insecurity – sexual assault and violence against women have not been taken seriously enough by the police. Following the 2021 vigil, the government introduced the ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022’. The Act expands the power of the police and encompasses restrictions on ‘unacceptable’ protests. Notably, it gives the Home Secretary broader powers to make regulations without reference to Parliament, including the right to decide what may be deemed ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ protest. The Bill is controversial, with ‘Kill the Bill’ protests being held across the UK.
All of these concerns lead to one question: is the UK policing system currently fit for purpose? Carrick’s sentencing is just one in a long line of policing scandals and his identification was through one of his victims, not an internal Met investigation. Thus, we can argue that the Met police in particular are not doing enough to fight misogyny in their ranks.
It is possible for the police to re-organise their procedures and to take allegations more seriously – it is not too late for change. However, the police must take substantive action to battle issues within before the public trust is lost completely.
Written by: Emily Gee
Edited by: Stephanie Young
Sources cited:
Dearden, Lizzie, ‘Public trust in police revealed amid wave of misogyny and sexual violence scandals’, The Independent (2023), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-trust-women-violence-met-b2270766.html.
Dodd, Vikram, ‘Three Met PCs who received pictures of murdered sisters can keep jobs’, The Guardian (2022), https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/23/three-met-pcs-received-pictures-murdered-sisters-keep-jobs-nicole-smallman-bibaa-henry.
Dodd, Vikram, ‘Two Met police officers jailed over photos of murdered sisters’, The Guardian (2021), https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/06/two-met-police-officers-jailed-photos-murdered-sisters-deniz-jaffer-jamie-lewis-nicole-smallman-bibaa-henry.
Dodd, Vikram and Emine Sinmaz, ‘David Carrick jailed for life over series of rapes while Met police officer’, The Guardian (2023), https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/07/david-carrick-jailed-life-rapes-met-police-officer.
‘Together, We Win’, Kill the Bill (2023), https://killthebill.org.uk.
Kingsley, Thomas, ‘‘Disgusting’ messages shared by Met Police officers in group chat with Wayne Couzens’, The Independent (2022), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/wayne-couzens-colleagues-whatsapp-group-b2214744.html.
Kirk, Tristan, ‘Met officers justify breaking up Sarah Everard vigil as it became ‘anti-police protest’’, The Independent (2022), https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/met-officers-sarah-everard-vigil-protest-arrests-prosecution-b1004602.html.
Mercer, David, ‘David Carrick: Met Police officer who was unmasked as serial rapist is jailed – as court hears he tried to kill himself ‘out of self pity’’, Sky News (2023), https://news.sky.com/story/david-carrick-evil-met-police-officer-who-was-unmasked-as-serial-rapist-jailed-for-at-least-30-years-12805072.
‘Met Police misconduct: 1000 sexual allegations to be investigated against officers’, Open Access Government (2023), https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/met-police-misconduct-1000-sexual-allegations-investigated-against-officers/151516/
Nagesh, Ashitha, ‘Child Q: Schoolgirl strip-search not isolated issue, police data suggests’, BBC News (2022), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62435630.
‘Next steps to rid police of misogyny and predatory behaviour’, Gov.uk (2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-to-rid-police-of-misogyny-and-predatory-behaviour.
Oppenheim, Maya, ‘Police officers in half of British forces being investigated for exploiting powers for sexual purposes’, The Independent (2022), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-police-met-sexual-abuse-b2028637.html.
Kirk, Tristan, ‘Sarah Everard murder joke detective sacked’, Evening Standard (2023), https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/sarah-everard-police-detective-giles-kitchener-sacked
-london-b1054903.html.
Quinn, Ben, ‘More than 150 Met officers investigated over sexual misconduct or racism’, The Guardian (2023), https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/09/more-than-150-met-officers-investigated-over-sexual-misconduct-or-racism.