It is time for a new social contract between the police and us citizens.
I trust the police where I work in Parliament more than I trust any other police officer. I thank them every single day and I always greet them with a smile and a good morning. And the police, especially in Parliament, have helped me so many times when my life has been threatened.
So, if Wayne Couzens, the man who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, and who had a police parliamentary pass for his shift, had told me to follow him because there had been a threat on my life then I would have followed him without even the need for handcuffs. He would have been armed with a gun and I would have initially felt protected and safe.
For those who are saying Sarah should have been ‘street smart’ are totally missing the point. He was a police officer and we all would have done the same.
When we heard a rumour that his locker in Parliament had been searched in March, a few female MPs including myself huddled together to whisper our deepest fears. Others – mainly women – who work in Parliament were reciting their personal experiences with ‘Wayne’ – some were good and some were bad, no one knew then the extent of his heinous crime.
It was utterly heart-breaking and shocking to find out what that man, a police officer who roamed our corridors, had done.
I could see that some male and female police officers on the estate were also distressed, I have spoken to some and they find it difficult to come to terms with. And there are officers who are frustrated at the lack of immediate action to weed out bad police officers.
I still followed my routine of saying good morning and thanking them for opening the security gates, etc. But the sad thing is, it really does feel like US chat show host Trevor Noah was right when he tweeted in April, I think, much like the police in America, the Met Police is a rotten tree that produces some good apples.
Recent figures showed 2,000 allegations of sexual misconduct including rape have been levelled against serving police officers over the last four years.
While in Brent, the area I represent, two Met Police officers have been charged with misconduct in public office after claims that ‘inappropriate’ photographs had been taken at the scene of the murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman. Six other officers were also investigated for alleged misconduct in connection to photographs. We are still awaiting the outcome.
When you consider all of these incidents and statistics, it is not hard to believe that another section of the public has lost trust in the police and it shows the scale of the challenge ahead.
Cressida Dick clearly has a huge job ahead of her. I’m pleading with her, as the first ever female commissioner, to stop propping up the establishment, to open her eyes and ears and help us, the citizens, turn our whispers into shouts of defiance. We are not anti-police we are anti-corruption, discrimination, misogyny, racism.
We need to be confident that the ‘bad apples’ will be caught, punished and dismissed. We need to be reassured that police officers who abuse women, whether at work or at home, will lose their jobs, and we need to know that police officers that are members of WhatsApp groups, where they share racist, homophobic and misogynistic content, will be sacked too.
I have written to Cressida Dick, calling on her to meet with Bibaa and Nicole’s mother Mina Smallman, Reclaim These Streets, Southall Black Sisters, and others who are all campaigning for safer environments for women, not because violence against women and girls is a woman’s problem, but because as women we are tired of women’s safety not being prioritised. And as we have a woman in charge of the Met this could be a positive legacy.
This is why I am calling for a new social contract, between the police and its citizens who are policed by consent. This new social contract where we rewrite the rules of engagement is desperately needed, because something big needs to change. An internal review headed up by Baroness Louise Casey into the Met Police’s culture and standards is a start but it really isn’t strong enough, there needs to be an independent investigation.
It has taken me decades not to be scared of the police, one of the worst encounters was when I was just 18 years old when my brother was almost killed, it’s a long story for another day. I’ve replaced early police brutality trauma with many positive views stemming from the interactions I’ve had with some amazing, committed police officers – including those whom I work with here in my constituency.
We have the same ambition for Brent and by working together, Brent has become safer. I am on their side; I want them to have the investment and the additional resources they need to help make Brent even safer.
But we cannot ignore that there are persistent problems, not only with the high-profile cases we have seen. For example, Black people are judged by the colour of their skin first. Black people are often more harshly punished by the criminal justice system. It’s not fair or right. And if racist police officers, who are often the same police officers who are likely to be sexist and misogynistic, are not booted out of the police force then nothing much will change.
Just imagine if all police officers were now judged by the brutal criminal acts of Wayne Couzens. It has been reported that more than half of the Metropolitan police officers found guilty of sexual misconduct over a four-year period have remained in their jobs. How is this acceptable?
It is essential that the new recruits that are coming in need to be kept away from the rotting tree. One way to do this is by creating a new social contract that we all sign up to. It would be transparent, strengthened and renewed, setting out the ethics, standards and consequences if the contract is broken. It will set us on the road to restoring faith in policing.
I have some ideas on what should be included but it’s important to have a discussion – and my vision is to have people’s assemblies in inner and outer London so that everyone’s views can be taken into consideration and an agreement can be found on the terms. Fundamentally, this new social contract should prioritise the protection of citizens all citizens regardless of the colour of their skin, sex, gender, disability, migrant status or religion.
If we all agree to this new approach to policing by consent, then we will each endeavour to do the best we can as citizens. We can only solve local and nationwide crime issues with the help of communities that trust in the police service.
I don’t want a new generation of people fearing the police, or a new set of police officers gaining power for the wrong reasons. So, let’s start the journey for a new social contract between the police and all of us.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
MORE : DJ Emma B believes Wayne Couzens flashed her in 2008 – but says police laughed at her
MORE : Man pretending to be police officer kidnapped girl and searched her
MORE : Police officer ‘boasted about sex with boy, 14, to undercover colleague’
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/3vsjwtn
0 Comments