Police officer attacks woman and keeps job

'@NiceGerbil You are right, but there are many rotten forces and many rotten systems.
The statistical evidence has been known for three years, proving that we are paying prison psychiatrists to ensure criminals continue to offend. Those who have been through comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation are 25% more, stress more, likely to re-offend than those who have not.
(Just like the 'rehabilitated' terrorist who carried out the London Bridge attack)
The thing they learn, from the 'rehabilitation', is how to say the right thing to get let out early.
(Again, the London Bridge man was so well trained he was being brought to a conference as the prize exhibit, expected to reliably recite how 'reformed' he was, now the nice man had told him the error of his ways. That same nice man was one of his first intended targets. But if he had been a 'reformed' rapist/murderer of women, the nice psychiatrists and course organisers wouldn't be at risk themselves)
I posted above a way to view today's Mail in a 'sanitised' way. I don't have the energy to sum up the cases in there today, but the 'how contracts with psychiatrists make violent rapists 25% more likely to do it again' item was one of them. It seems stuffed with things you might think worth mention, so soon after Sarah, yet the Times and Telegraph don't report, and the men in power will presumably read one of those. They wouldn't even read Guardian would they?

There was a refreshingly undefensive ex-police chief (from somewhere in the Midlands, I think Nottingham) on Women's Hour, last week.
She said that many male officers were of the opinion that starting a sexual relationship with a vulnerable victim they had come into contact with at work (e.g. DV / DA survivor, addict, prostitute) was a 'perk of the job.' she said it was very hard to change the culture, eventually it was put in the anti-corruption guidance. She said it was very hard to change the culture.

I live in met area.

They have an appalling record across s massive range of things.

Corruption, cover ups, lying about people they've killed. Warboys Reid. Sapphire unit. The undercover stuff in the environmental groups.

I have no doubt that they are institutionally mysoginist and racist. At the least.

These are my own views based on living in met area for more than 45 years.

I have found a way to read the Mail online, which puts all the 'sleb stuff in a column on the right, so you can quickly scroll down the rest and find stuff the main papers don't have, just the headlines, but today's has some stuff relevant to this thread that is worth clicking and opening, but truly depressing. As is the fact that the big boys papers don't pick it up.

"The best police are the ones who hold their hands up and agree that there is a problem. They are intelligent and don’t have an issue with accepting that."
I agree with this. And I think the majority are like this. Like I said, ordinary people trying to do their best. Not heroes, not villains.
I also don't think it's right or feasible to blindly support anyone and I completely agree that the police service has to be accountable to the public it serves.

I don't really accept that Twitter is a true
reflection of real life. Most people away from Twitter are decent folk. They'd have to be, otherwise you'd have to believe that everyone is walking around constantly outraged.

But the OP stated that this officer is keeping his job, based on what was reported in the press. His misconduct investigation might not have even began yet, so this was an inaccurate assumption to make. He should lose his job, I don't think many would disagree with that.

I disagree, I know and am related to a lot of police and I do think there can be a hive mind. You only have to go on social media to see that, all the rather sickening thin blue line memes and everyday hero self congratulating.

If anyone is in the police, they know what goes on too and a lot of incredible, decent officers try to speak out and can’t, they give up or leave.

They don’t see worse than other emergency services and I don’t believe that sometimes they don’t contribute to escalating volatile ones.

A lot seem to think the public are stupid and worryingly many don’t even know much about the finer points of law- even Cressida Dick proved that by telling everyone that the Clapham Common protests were illegal. To then use the excuse of covid which has been shown to be very low risk outside and gave no spike after the last protests was inexcusable.

I have seen protesting women be mocked, described as unwashed benefit claimants and professional trouble makers, by Twitter anonymous police accounts. I have seen official police Twitter accounts ‘liking’ offensive comments about the women protestors.

Lots of us get abuse as part of our jobs, violence is endemic in the nhs for example (my co worker was kicked by a pt and lost her baby) and I would never defend bad practice in the nhs or jump to mindlessly defend my colleagues if something goes wrong.

The best police are the ones who hold their hands up and agree that there is a problem. They are intelligent and don’t have an issue with accepting that.

Apologies if I sound angry, I am, I am not going to continue blindly defending the police anymore.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/18/fewer-than-one-in-10-police-officers-fired-after-gross-misconduct-finding

There is no psychological assessment in existence that can predict who will murder, who will abuse their power, who will hurt women. Wouldn't that be a fine thing? Then these people could be arrested before they do any of these things. Like Minority Report.

The officer will lose his job, by the way. The force is not allowed to comment until after the criminal and disciplinary investigations are complete.
By that time, the headline is reported, the public have formed an opinion and are suitably outraged by something that isn't accurate. Case in point, the title of this thread. Then it's used as an example to 'prove' how the police force is full of convicted criminals, because there won't be a further article after he's sacked. And that's all it takes to foster attitudes of mistrust in the police.
The police are not a hive mind. They are ordinary people. Parents, women, men, BME, white, gay, straight, religious, atheist, wealthy and not.
They are not heroes, though some have done heroic things. Nor are they all villains, though some have done awful things.
They are ordinary people who stay late because a child has gone missing, so they miss putting their own child to bed. They are kicked, punched, spat on and sworn at. They see the worst things that people do. The bloom rubs off after a bit. I do not believe that the majority of officers are not appalled by the actions of these colleagues. Some officers behaviour is truly disgusting and there is no excuse for that. Those officers should be held to account.The majority though, are ordinary people who do the best they can. There are no good people and bad people. All people do bad things. All people have redeeming qualities.

I do agree that the sentence is shocking. But magistrates is the right place to hear a summary only offence. The maximum sentence is 6 months imprisonment. What he did was so outrageous that I don't understand why he's not been given that.

There are thousands of women telling their stories on Twitter alone, of being ignored or not reporting things. The heroic thin blue line trope is really not appropriate at the moment.

I have a complaint with a force at the moment that has just been reviewed and upheld by the PCC, evidence was ‘lost’ and outright lies by those that the crime was reported to.

I come from a big police family so am hardly prone to needless bashing them.

The problem with a lot of police is they are unable to take the slightest criticism and are hyper defensive. It’s very them and us and that’s unhealthy and toxic.

This. My immediate thoughts on the whole 'plain clothes officers in bars to protect women' idea was that there was another potential predator to navigate on a night out.

Absolutely this.

Seems to me that police culture is rotten to the core. How can we ever hope to reduce violence to women and girls when we have incidents of police taking selfies of themselves next to murdered womens bodies, like some kind of fucking trophy, attacking women on their way home, or going the full distance and murdering them. Or the coverups with the grooming gangs whilst girls remained at significant harm. There's too much to list. Nothing changes. I have no faith in the police. Just days after Sarah, an abusive policeman gets a curfew for assaulting a woman, at a time when everyone is under curfew. How is that a punishment? The police just push out platitudes but theyre not going to change a single thing.

Another magistrates case - the system stinks. I am livid.

Sorry 123,000 in England and Wales

It's obviously not a few bad apples but a massive cultural problem within the police, and I don't think any awareness course that exists could fix it.
You mention 5 - there are 32,000 police officers in the met. 113,000 in England.
Who needs the Daily Mail - there's better headline fodder on MN

Sickening. There is clearly a set of people (power trippers, bullies etc) who are attracted to join the police for the wrong reasons.

You’d think the police service would be on the alert for these people from recruitment onwards, and absolutely leap into action when something happens?!

I knew Cressida Dick’s statement that every police officer would be revolted by the Sarah Everard case stank to high heaven.

So she wasn't taken seriously until CCTV footage came to light? That means they're literally saying that the voice of a woman means nothing. What would have happened without the CCTV? Nothing. And there would have been more incidents too, more women brutally attacked going about their daily life. Likely with increasing brutality.

And then after she/her family pushed her case, he gets a fucking curfew and £500 fine?! I bet she would be happy for the result of her attack to be a 3 month curfew (in covid times) and £500. Job done.

I thought policemen were supposed to be held to higher standards than regular people. Which would suggest if he'd not been an officer, he'd have got an ever lower sentence!!

Women's lives are simply seen as a cheap price to pay for the right of men to live theirs: collateral damage indeed.

Just dreadful. I don't understand the lack of consequences from the criminal justice system here; regardless of what happens with his job he should be facing a custodial sentence.

All of this is true about this case but can we also direct anger at the CPS (who refuse to prosecute most of the rape cases the police pass to them - and they only do that when they're convinced) AND the judge in this case. What on earth was he thinking!
I don't know if you remember the story of the policeman who killed his lover and got a low sentence (10 years I think) but that has just been increased yesterday. Why are judges doing this? Any time an officer commits a crime there should be additional charges related to misconduct in a public office as they are meant to uphold the law not break it. Police should get harsher sentences not lighter.

I don’t know how this can be changed, their arrogance and contempt for women. Something is going wrong with their recruitment process for a start.

I think the most worrying thing about this was by all accounts the police response to the victim's complaint was pretty lacklustre until the video footage came forward. I hope he is sacked.

’These are the people who are going undercover to protect women'

In pubs and clubs.

Erm. Not keen at all.

I think they are interested in drugs and using this as an excuse.