LONDON – The recent case of the policeman who kidnapped and killed a young woman is certainly the most shameful and striking, but not the only one. Six hundred Scotland Yard employees were accused of sexual harassment over the course of six years alone, between 2012 and 2018, reveals a survey published by ‘Observer: among them an agent who allegedly abused a rape victim and another who allegedly sexually assaulted a victim of domestic abuse.
London, everyone is calling for the resignation of Cressida Dick, head of Scotland Yard
Only 119 of these cases were reported to superiors, but they did not necessarily end up in court: Among others that of an officer forced to resign for having apparently pretended to be a woman online to take advantage of another and for having filmed a woman who had non-consensual sex in a public park. Another policeman had to leave the service after allegations of having a sexual relationship with a woman who lived in an abuse shelter. The list published by the British Sunday, obtained by Scotland Yard invoking the laws on freedom of information, is long and varied: it includes, among others, the case of an officer who, while at work, met a woman and subsequently introduced himself at his home and raped her. However, the policeman received only a verbal warning and a counseling session.
Sarah Everard, vigil prohibited but hundreds arrive: clashes with the police. Kate Middleton at the memorial too
by Enrico Franceschini
The investigation comes a few days after the murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman kidnapped and murdered while walking back to her South London home after visiting a friend. The defendant, Wayne Couzens, a 47-year-old policeman in charge of protecting Downing Street, the British Parliament and the American Embassy, will go on trial in the autumn. To the crime was added the treatment of hundreds of women who gathered in a park in the capital for a wake in memory of Sarah and to protest against male violence: a prohibited demonstration due to pandemic regulations, but peaceful, resulting in arrests and beatings by the police to disperse the demonstrators.
“Kidnapped and killed by an agent in London”. The anger of British women
by our correspondent Antonello Guerrera
Meanwhile, yesterday, another policeman was convicted of attacking a woman in the West Midlands: also in this case the victim was returning home alone. The man, Oliver Banfield, 25, did not end up in prison, but was only ordered to respect a curfew from dusk to dawn at his home and to pay £ 500 in damages to the victim. “The judicial system protects men and condemns women,” said Labor MP Harriet Harman.
But if this is not a new accusation to a certain extent, the scale of sexual abuse committed by police officers, and often unpunished or treated as minor offenses, is a scandal that was unknown. The allegations concern only a small percentage of our agents, but it is clear that this type of conduct is not permissible in our organization, ”says a spokesman for the London Metropolitan Police. “We will take the necessary actions and learn from this lesson.” A lesson that without the revelations ofObserver she would remain under the cover of secrecy. “We expect a higher standard from those who would be called to defend us,” protests Nazir Afzal, a former prosecutor. “The police should protect the most vulnerable, not take advantage of them.”
Paradoxically, the accusation of mass misogyny against Scotland Yard comes as it is headed by a woman, Cressida Dick, for the first time in the history of the legendary London “bobbies”: her chair continues to wobble. At a minimum, according to rumors, she will not be confirmed in the post at the end of her first term, but it is not excluded that she will be forced to resign early.
.