following today's news...to say police should not be allowed to arrest women when operating solo

[RBKB]

Just that.... what tragic and terrifying news regarding Sarah Everard's murder. I am so angry as I gather the force minimised earlier reports of sexually deviant behaviour by this appalling man.

@Kindleswitchface

Are domino's drivers also not allowed to deliver single crewed to females?

What a fucking ridiculous comparison

This dreadful crime is highly unlikely to happen again, Gp, s generally dont go around murdering their patients, or childrens Nurses , but it has happened
How was he allowed to enter the police force in the first place, and continue working?

I was detained by a lone male police officer. If I had not been, I would have been dead. I didn't think it odd at the time. I had to be handcuffed, but he was not allowed to search me. Only a female cop could have done that.

@EnidFrighten 1. He wasn’t “presenting as a policeman”, he was a fucking policeman. 2. Yes he could have tried to drag her off but she would not have willingly been handcuffed and put in his car with witnesses.

Clearly, we need more safety measures for women around single policemen. Not to shrug and go “oh well he could have just dragged her off anyway”.

Perhaps another solution would be to require police officers to check out and check in their ID?

There are many cases of male police officers abusing vulnerable women in their care / custody, and of police officers perpetrating domestic abuse, and getting away with it because of their position. I sympathize with decent police men, but they would also want to protect the police from these awful dangerous men as well surely?

@EnidFrighten

I'm sorry, that's crazy. If he hadn't been presenting as a policeman he still could have dragged her off etc.

It was in a public area with witnesses. He purposefully used his warrant card and authority to get her into his car and keep her restrained with handcuffs. It was planned, careful and controlled. Witnesses just assumed it was a genuine arrest. He didn’t need to drag anyone off because he had those tools.

Criminals gotta be arrested. And you'd find it very difficult to justify different laws for arrest for men and women.

@thinkningaboutit

I think that's entirely reasonable. We can't trust men.

None of them?

I think it's pretty easy to justify. We are being killed every three days by men. The risk of a woman being violent to a male police officer is ridiculously small. Proportionate response I'd say.

Not sure that more rules are the answer here. I mean murdering people is already prohibited and he crossed that line.

Apparently his nickname was ‘the rapist’
Why is the command chain also not answerable?

Because it's not illegal to have a nickname
Because he hadn't broken any laws that anyone knew of
Because having a shitty nickname could be considered grounds for bullying

Because he hadn't broken any laws that anyone knew of
Last I heard, indecent exposure was still illegal. And they (the Met) damn' well knew about that.

None of them?

We don't know which ones we can't trust until it's too late.

I don't trust any men I don't know, and I assume that women who don't know my 20 year old son won't trust him, which is why he's been brought up to behave in the least intimidating way possible when near women he doesn't know.

@thinkningaboutit

I think it's pretty easy to justify. We are being killed every three days by men. The risk of a woman being violent to a male police officer is ridiculously small. Proportionate response I'd say.

The woman being violent to the male offficer is not the only risk though. There's also the risk to the public while a solo officer stands watching a violent offence being committed while waiting for a colleague, for eg.

Fuck me the replies on here are depressing reading.

theThreeofWeevils

Then I take that one back and clearly he shouldn't be on the force.

@Throckmorton

Fuck me the replies on here are depressing reading.

But entirely predictable unfortunately.

As usual this is wanting to use a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

The man was a murderer. If he’d wanted to murder her he would have found a way to do it, he just abused his position to do it, but if he hadn’t been able to abuse that position he would still have murdered either her or someone else.

And statements such as “we can’t trust men” just make things worse. Because the fact is that that’s categorically not true.

We need to change the thinking within the male population. The instant you start saying “we can’t trust any men” you are going to get men coming out and saying things like “not all men are like that,” which is true. And instantly you lose support.

We need to get to the point where men don’t have to express that “not all men” are like that. We need to get to a point where those men who aren’t like that want something done about the men who are, and acknowledge the fact that male on female violence is more common than the other way around.

YABU.

I don't see how we can expect equal treatment as women but at the same time demand special treatment. I don't understand the fear a number of women seem to have of unknown men - women are more likely to be murdered by someone they know.

In my old response team, on Nights we were all double crewed but Earlies and Lates always single crewed with exceptions for training/injury/wellbeing reasons.
There just aren't enough officers to send double crewed, every shift.

So, as horrific as this incident was, it would be difficult to justify the staffing sacrifice of effectively halving all number of units on Earlies and Lates, on the basis that it meant later on down the line, after the policy was nationally adopted, and widely known by all females, we will know that any sole male showing ID as an officer must not be trusted.

The theory is good, but it's just not practical with our current reduced numbers.

What about detectives sent out to take a statement? If the goal is that no male officers should be allowed out without a chaperone, it's impractical.

Many roles, such as undercover officers, surveillance, CID, specialist roles such as dog handlers, neighbourhood officers, PCSOs... Just simply wouldn't work as double crewed units.

I felt absolutely sick when I read that he apparently carded her and handcuffed her. What an absolute betrayal of trust.

@MagnoliaXYZ

YABU.

I don't see how we can expect equal treatment as women but at the same time demand special treatment. I don't understand the fear a number of women seem to have of unknown men - women are more likely to be murdered by someone they know.

Oh ffs really? Are you being deliberately obtuse?

We need to change the thinking within the male population. The instant you start saying “we can’t trust any men” you are going to get men coming out and saying things like “not all men are like that,” which is true. And instantly you lose support.

We need to get to the point where men don’t have to express that “not all men” are like that. We need to get to a point where those men who aren’t like that want something done about the men who are, and acknowledge the fact that male on female violence is more common than the other way around.

Why, exactly, do we need to centre mens feelings about women's safety?

"If we want men to agree that women need to be safe we need to word it really nicely and not upset any of them" what a weird attitude.

Stupid comparison really. Dominoes don't tend to carry handcuffs and are not in a position of authority where they could force a woman into their car under the pretence of arresting them. They don't even stay at the door nowadays, they put the pizza on the doorstep and then retreat to their car.

You're obviously oblivious to the fact that Sabina Nessa was killed by a Dominos Driver then - which is the point that was being made....

The woman being violent to the male offficer is not the only risk though. There's also the risk to the public while a solo officer stands watching a violent offence being committed while waiting for a colleague, for eg.

I can already imagine the indignant AIBU thread blaming it all on misogyny.